Back to back runs is something I haven't done in over 6 weeks. April 19 and 20 were the last two consecutive days of running until today. It's hard to believe. Between my cold, marathon taper, marathon recovery, and injury I haven't put together a decent week of training in a long time.
I ran 3 miles yesterday and then I ran 3 more today. Both runs were over on the dirt in Via Verde. In keeping with the nice and easy theme I even left my watch at home. I had originally planned on running Tuesday and Thursday, but a bunch of us are going out after work Thurs. to celebrate a co-worker's graduation. Our Admin. Professional got her Bachelor's degree in Organizational Management at 53! She deserves a party.
The foot feels.....OK....not great, but OK. Its funny that the aches and pains seem to move around. Another blogger with foot problems mentioned the same thing (sorry I can't remember who; there are several of us ailing at the moment). Sometimes I don't notice anything and others the pain is in the arch, sometimes on the top, even on opposite sides at times. No running now till Saturday when I meet up with the Cruisers for a jaunt in and around Peters Canyon, down in OCTR country. Will I run into Jessica?
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Monday, June 04, 2007
The Second Half
I got it done, not exactly the way I had envisioned it, but I got it done; and I really did enjoy it. Last Monday was the Saddleback Half followed 5 days later by the Fontana Days Half. This is the only local race that I have a three year streak going. I would have four except that in 2004 I ran the Rock and Roll Marathon in San Diego that occurs on the Sunday following Fontana. I'm not sure I will ever do that particular combination. Although it sounds more doable now than it did in 2004, I've got 41 other marathons (states) to run first.The funny thing is that the two races/runs came down almost exactly the same. I've spent more time than I should have comparing the numbers.
The similarities include:
- I ran the first 9 miles with a friend, Jay at Saddleback, Terry at Fontana
- I made a bathroom stop during mile 9, a convenient portojohn at Saddleback, a convenient bush at Fontana
- I ran the last 4.1 miles faster than the first 9 miles in both races
In retrospect, running 2 half marathons within a week wasn't that tough of a challenge. It pales in comparison to back to back marathons or an ultra but it was a fun little series to do. It was made that much easier for me because I really only ran them rather than race them. I held back early on and only sped up for the last four miles. This seemed to be prudent considering the foot issue.
I met several people that I knew at the race. I saw Larry, a coworker. We've both been running since 2003, but this is only the 2nd race we've run together. The first was the LA Marathon and there's little chance of seeing each other in that crowd. I also saw an associate pastor, Ron, and Ed from our church. And then I met, Mike, a guy from our old church when we lived in Rialto.
Although my times were faster at Fontana, my placings were significantly lower. I guess a lot of people come to Fontana intent on taking advantage of the downhill course.
The foot seemed to have faired well. I of course iced it when I got home, again more preemptively rather than in response to any specific pain. I've finished the series of anti-inflammatories so the next few days and weeks will be telling. David asked in a comment whether I've ever suffered from plantar fasciitis? Although I haven't received that diagnosis, I'm leaning strongly towards thinking that may be what I've got. My heels have been hurting for nearly a year. My increase in mileage and recent change in shoes may have just been enough to aggravate it even further. I do plan on babying the foot for at least a couple more weeks to assure no further damage.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
The Great Crash of 2007
It is a crash that is far less memorable and the effects are far less wide spread than the Crashes of 1929 and 1987, but it was a crash non the less. I feel fortunate that the crash happened now rather than in October as those other crashes did. October would have put a serious crimp into the Marine Corps Marathon.I ran an easy 3 miler today on the dirt of the equestrian trail in Via Verde. I won't run the next two days in preparation for the Fontana Days Half on Saturday. Today's run concluded my mileage for May 2007. The grand total is: 44.6 miles. This represents my lowest mileage month ever, except of course all those ZERO months the first 42 years of my life. I even ran more than that in January 2006, 49.7 miles, when I spent the first two weeks of the month in India.
I find it a little ironic that two months ago I was celebrating my highest mileage month ever and yet that probably had a lot to do with the current state of my right foot. The bummer part is I didn't even get to cash in on the high mileage at Eugene. I missed my chance to "sell high".
I've been working up my schedule for MCM. I usually do an 18 week buildup to the big day so I don't' officially start training until June 25. I am going to take it pretty easy until then and even then ramp up a little slower than usual depending on how the foot holds up.
The whole ankle/foot is kind of stiff and overall my legs are tighter than usual. During tonight's run I didn't feel anything out of the ordinary. I also continue to ice the foot and I where shoes all the time to keep the arch supported. And as much as I dislike the idea, I'm staying away from Bonelli or other trails to avoid the down hills for awhile.
I feel fortunate that I've had a good long run (pun intended) of 4 years without any major injuries. So now it's a couple of days rest then off to Fontana to complete my So Cal half marathon tour.
I find it a little ironic that two months ago I was celebrating my highest mileage month ever and yet that probably had a lot to do with the current state of my right foot. The bummer part is I didn't even get to cash in on the high mileage at Eugene. I missed my chance to "sell high".
I've been working up my schedule for MCM. I usually do an 18 week buildup to the big day so I don't' officially start training until June 25. I am going to take it pretty easy until then and even then ramp up a little slower than usual depending on how the foot holds up.
The whole ankle/foot is kind of stiff and overall my legs are tighter than usual. During tonight's run I didn't feel anything out of the ordinary. I also continue to ice the foot and I where shoes all the time to keep the arch supported. And as much as I dislike the idea, I'm staying away from Bonelli or other trails to avoid the down hills for awhile.
I feel fortunate that I've had a good long run (pun intended) of 4 years without any major injuries. So now it's a couple of days rest then off to Fontana to complete my So Cal half marathon tour.
Monday, May 28, 2007
You Knew I Would (Didn't You?)
I returned to So Cal on Tuesday evening, to weather that looked incredibly like the weather I had just left behind in Seattle - cool and cloudy. I had scheduled the remainder of the week as vacation so that I could join our friends camping in Carpinteria.
Wednesday, I kept the appointment with the orthopedic doc. The anti-inflammatory seemed to be doing a good job of controlling the arch pain, especially considering that I was on my feet much since last Friday. He was encouraged with no swelling and no trigger point pain and was in agreement with my plan to try an easy run, assess the situation and then to run the half easily.
Thursday to Sunday I spent in Carpinteria. The weather wasn't ideal for lazing at the beach. The temps were in the 60's with a pretty substantial breeze. We were lucky to see the sun for about an hour each day from 2:00 to 3:00 in the afternoon. We still got in most of the usual activities; a walk to the seal habitat, the tide pools, softball, local area hikes, campfires and songs, s'mores, lots of food and fellowship. The lack of sun did not dampen our spirits, it just prohibited sun bathing. The trip normally lasts to Monday, but we had the wedding to attend so came home Sunday afternoon.
The wedding was beautiful, but it is hard to imagine that we have friends with children old enough to get married. We first met the bride and her family when she was 3 years old. I realize that my own children are growing up and I easily accept that fact, but I still think of our friends children as the youngsters they were when we first met them.
Back to running and the foot. Friday was the day to officially test out the foot. I had planned an easy 3-miler along the Carpinteria Bluffs trail from the campground heading east to the ball fields and back. I was really nervous about the run. I actually walked the first half mile on pavement to get to the dirt path. Once I hit the dirt, I took off at an easy pace and was pleased that everything felt good. There were some other twinges elsewhere; I hadn't run a step in nearly two weeks so that was completely unexpected. I hit the ball park, stopped for a drink at the water fountain and headed back. This time when I hit the pavement I kept going all the way back to the campsite. Everything felt good for the duration of that short run. Later, the ankle felt a little stiff but no aches to the degree after Malibu Creek.
Monday morning I was up at before the sun to make my way down to Laguna Hills for the Saddleback Memorial Half Marathon. This year was the first year that I would have the chance to run this race, thanks to the wedding. Memorial Weekend is special to me in terms of running in that it was at this campout in 2003 that some fellow campers finally convinced me that I could run marathon. I ran my first miles within days of that campout. The Saddleback race is highly publicized and has a positive reputation. I have seen many race t-shirts in my hometown, nearly 45 miles away from the race site. The race has always been unavailable to me because of the same camping trip that got me into running. The race has further allure to me because of its proximity on the calendar to a favorite race, the Fontana Days Half. These two events allow runners to get in two half marathons within a week.
I showed up early and immediately ran into fellow Cruisers Dr. John, Dorothy, Mary, Cathe and Cass. Soon we were joined by 6:42 runner Jay. Jay and I are nearly evenly paced. I had decided that I would likely run with Dr. John in part to keep my pace on the slower side to insure a pain free run. Jay offered me the opportunity to run a little faster but still somewhat under control. At the starting line I ran into Greg and his son.
The first mile of the race took us for a lap around the Laguna Hills Mall (I missed the split). At mile 2 Jay and I were at 18:10, about where Jay wanted to be, but he urged me to go on ahead whenever I was ready. I wasn't ready yet. I really wanted to take it easy and just get through the race pain free. The course is not flat but I would call it gently rolling. During the first significant up hill section I had a couple of little twinges which I found odd because it almost never hurts going up. It is going down that is the problem.
Jay and I continued to hang together for the next 6 miles. They went down like this: 8:25, 8:50, 8:50, 8:57, 8:55, 8:49. Jay continued to encourage me to go ahead. I stubbornly stayed with him. Around mile 6 the course enters Aliso & Wood Canyon Park. The course doubles back on itself twice here. The first leg is higher than the second. It was fun to see runners coming and going on two paths. It reminded me of ants at a picnic. Somewhere in this section we came upon Tom going the other way. Before I would shout out to him, Jay had already shouted out. I had no idea that Jay knew Tom. I met Tom through my friend Terry from work. Tom knew Terry from a training program in Chino Hills. I'm still not clear how Tom and Jay know one another, they live in cities about 30 miles apart. The running world is indeed a small world.
During Mile 8, I told Jay that I was going to make a stop at the big blue boxes (port-o-johns). He suggested I run up ahead and then catch up with him on the other side. So I took off and was amazed at how good I felt. It was fun picking off people of the slight grade to the johns. Soon after leaving the johns I had to make another stop to tie my shoes. Mile 9 was 9:51 including both stops. I caught back up to Jay within a half mile. He again suggested I go on ahead, adding that there were only 4 miles left and it was time to kick it in. My foot was feeling good and that last mile felt good (actually running time had approached 8:00). So I finally took off.
During those last 4 miles, miles that are gently, yet continually up hill, I passed runner after runner. No runner passed me. Compared to a trail hill this was nothing but it was just the kind of grade that I enjoy. It was a really good feeling to be passing people at this point in the race. Starting out slower and speeding up later is a good race strategy, but I had never put it into practice before. I hadn't intended on putting in into practice today either. I owe Jay a huge thanks for encouraging me.
The next three miles went down in 8:09, 8:22 and 8:17. Mile 13.1 was 9:13 (8:23 pace). I was passed by 2 guys in the last 0.1 mile of the race. The race finishes up hill with a couple of twists and turns. I heard the announcer but couldn't see the finish line. After the last blind left turn the finish line is less than 100 yards away, leaving little time for a finishing kick. My final time (by my watch) was 1:54:49. Not too bad, but I wasn't expecting a PR. The best part is that my right foot/ankle held up fine. I iced it once I got home just as a precaution.
Many times during the race, especially during those last 4 miles when I ran alone, my thoughts turned to Jeff, smsmh and TC. Jeff had commented on my "Past, Present and Future" post. I was aware that TC's arrival was imminent. I was happy to read earlier this morning that he made his appearance a few days ago. TC is healthy and I trust that Jeff and his wife are adjusting to their new roles as parents with skill and grace. Even though my own boys are well into teenage and young adulthood, the news of a new baby brings all those early emotions, apprehensions and excitements flooding back. Congratulations to the Amazing Hip Family.
Wednesday, I kept the appointment with the orthopedic doc. The anti-inflammatory seemed to be doing a good job of controlling the arch pain, especially considering that I was on my feet much since last Friday. He was encouraged with no swelling and no trigger point pain and was in agreement with my plan to try an easy run, assess the situation and then to run the half easily.
Thursday to Sunday I spent in Carpinteria. The weather wasn't ideal for lazing at the beach. The temps were in the 60's with a pretty substantial breeze. We were lucky to see the sun for about an hour each day from 2:00 to 3:00 in the afternoon. We still got in most of the usual activities; a walk to the seal habitat, the tide pools, softball, local area hikes, campfires and songs, s'mores, lots of food and fellowship. The lack of sun did not dampen our spirits, it just prohibited sun bathing. The trip normally lasts to Monday, but we had the wedding to attend so came home Sunday afternoon.
The wedding was beautiful, but it is hard to imagine that we have friends with children old enough to get married. We first met the bride and her family when she was 3 years old. I realize that my own children are growing up and I easily accept that fact, but I still think of our friends children as the youngsters they were when we first met them.
Back to running and the foot. Friday was the day to officially test out the foot. I had planned an easy 3-miler along the Carpinteria Bluffs trail from the campground heading east to the ball fields and back. I was really nervous about the run. I actually walked the first half mile on pavement to get to the dirt path. Once I hit the dirt, I took off at an easy pace and was pleased that everything felt good. There were some other twinges elsewhere; I hadn't run a step in nearly two weeks so that was completely unexpected. I hit the ball park, stopped for a drink at the water fountain and headed back. This time when I hit the pavement I kept going all the way back to the campsite. Everything felt good for the duration of that short run. Later, the ankle felt a little stiff but no aches to the degree after Malibu Creek.
Monday morning I was up at before the sun to make my way down to Laguna Hills for the Saddleback Memorial Half Marathon. This year was the first year that I would have the chance to run this race, thanks to the wedding. Memorial Weekend is special to me in terms of running in that it was at this campout in 2003 that some fellow campers finally convinced me that I could run marathon. I ran my first miles within days of that campout. The Saddleback race is highly publicized and has a positive reputation. I have seen many race t-shirts in my hometown, nearly 45 miles away from the race site. The race has always been unavailable to me because of the same camping trip that got me into running. The race has further allure to me because of its proximity on the calendar to a favorite race, the Fontana Days Half. These two events allow runners to get in two half marathons within a week.
I showed up early and immediately ran into fellow Cruisers Dr. John, Dorothy, Mary, Cathe and Cass. Soon we were joined by 6:42 runner Jay. Jay and I are nearly evenly paced. I had decided that I would likely run with Dr. John in part to keep my pace on the slower side to insure a pain free run. Jay offered me the opportunity to run a little faster but still somewhat under control. At the starting line I ran into Greg and his son.
The first mile of the race took us for a lap around the Laguna Hills Mall (I missed the split). At mile 2 Jay and I were at 18:10, about where Jay wanted to be, but he urged me to go on ahead whenever I was ready. I wasn't ready yet. I really wanted to take it easy and just get through the race pain free. The course is not flat but I would call it gently rolling. During the first significant up hill section I had a couple of little twinges which I found odd because it almost never hurts going up. It is going down that is the problem.
Jay and I continued to hang together for the next 6 miles. They went down like this: 8:25, 8:50, 8:50, 8:57, 8:55, 8:49. Jay continued to encourage me to go ahead. I stubbornly stayed with him. Around mile 6 the course enters Aliso & Wood Canyon Park. The course doubles back on itself twice here. The first leg is higher than the second. It was fun to see runners coming and going on two paths. It reminded me of ants at a picnic. Somewhere in this section we came upon Tom going the other way. Before I would shout out to him, Jay had already shouted out. I had no idea that Jay knew Tom. I met Tom through my friend Terry from work. Tom knew Terry from a training program in Chino Hills. I'm still not clear how Tom and Jay know one another, they live in cities about 30 miles apart. The running world is indeed a small world.
During Mile 8, I told Jay that I was going to make a stop at the big blue boxes (port-o-johns). He suggested I run up ahead and then catch up with him on the other side. So I took off and was amazed at how good I felt. It was fun picking off people of the slight grade to the johns. Soon after leaving the johns I had to make another stop to tie my shoes. Mile 9 was 9:51 including both stops. I caught back up to Jay within a half mile. He again suggested I go on ahead, adding that there were only 4 miles left and it was time to kick it in. My foot was feeling good and that last mile felt good (actually running time had approached 8:00). So I finally took off.
During those last 4 miles, miles that are gently, yet continually up hill, I passed runner after runner. No runner passed me. Compared to a trail hill this was nothing but it was just the kind of grade that I enjoy. It was a really good feeling to be passing people at this point in the race. Starting out slower and speeding up later is a good race strategy, but I had never put it into practice before. I hadn't intended on putting in into practice today either. I owe Jay a huge thanks for encouraging me.
The next three miles went down in 8:09, 8:22 and 8:17. Mile 13.1 was 9:13 (8:23 pace). I was passed by 2 guys in the last 0.1 mile of the race. The race finishes up hill with a couple of twists and turns. I heard the announcer but couldn't see the finish line. After the last blind left turn the finish line is less than 100 yards away, leaving little time for a finishing kick. My final time (by my watch) was 1:54:49. Not too bad, but I wasn't expecting a PR. The best part is that my right foot/ankle held up fine. I iced it once I got home just as a precaution.
Many times during the race, especially during those last 4 miles when I ran alone, my thoughts turned to Jeff, smsmh and TC. Jeff had commented on my "Past, Present and Future" post. I was aware that TC's arrival was imminent. I was happy to read earlier this morning that he made his appearance a few days ago. TC is healthy and I trust that Jeff and his wife are adjusting to their new roles as parents with skill and grace. Even though my own boys are well into teenage and young adulthood, the news of a new baby brings all those early emotions, apprehensions and excitements flooding back. Congratulations to the Amazing Hip Family.
Monday, May 21, 2007
Runless in Seattle
I've been in Seattle since last Friday for work. Seattle is the site of this year's trade show for the orthodontic industry. Our team was fortunate enough to pull off the launch of our newest product, so I was lucky to get to attend. Being on your feet in a trade show booth isn't all that glamorous but I was just very happy to be in Seattle.
I really love the Pacific Northwest. I've mentioned before that I've always thought I would want to live there. Last year when I ran the SEAFAIR marathon in Bellevue, I fulfilled my wife's requirement that we at least visit before I pack up my belongings like the Beverly Hillbilly's.
As much as I disliked the idea, the trip offered the perfect respite from running. Whenever I travel I really look forward to finding somewhere to run. It is required planning for any trip I make. But to help whatever is wrong with my foot heal up a little, I was committed to not running while I was gone. I didn't even bring my shoes or my gear so that I wouldn't be tempted. I wasn't exactly sure how eight hour days standing around the booth would effect the foot, but I wasn't going to run.
Surprisingly my feet have been tired, as expected, but the pain in my arch has subsided considerably. The rest from running combined with the anti-inflammatory seem to be working quite nicely. It has been a mental challenge to not run. It seems that everyday I've seen at least one of the sales reps on their way out for a run. I even found out after I got here that the trade association conducts a 5K fun run complete with race bibs and t-shirt. This year's event was held at Myrtle Edward Park on Elliot Bay. Under normal circumstances I would have for sure taken part in this event. Instead I slept in Sunday morning.
I have gotten out to some good eats in downtown Seattle. I've had lunch at Virginia Inn, a small laid back bistro, and at Purple Cafe and Wine Bar, a hip wine bar (no wine was drunk since we had to return to the show floor). We've had dinner at Palace Kitchen, a fresh PNW grill. Quite by accident we also had drinks at the Dalia Lounge followed by Pizza at Seriously Pie, all restaurants under the same management. Tonight we are having dinner at a much acclaimed and anticipated, Wild Ginger. I sure hope it lives up to the expectations.
The unfortunate effect of no running, standing at a booth all day and a food tour of Seattle is an expansion of the waistline. Moderation doesn't come easy. I'll be back home Tuesday evening and am scheduled to see the doc on Wednesday. So far things look good. I will stay the course at least until next Monday.
A huge congratulations go out to two of my favorite Canadian bloggers, Mark and Robb for completing to very colorful marathons, the Red Deer Marathon and the Blue Nose Marathon. Mark celebrated his return to the marathon and Robb ran his first.
I really love the Pacific Northwest. I've mentioned before that I've always thought I would want to live there. Last year when I ran the SEAFAIR marathon in Bellevue, I fulfilled my wife's requirement that we at least visit before I pack up my belongings like the Beverly Hillbilly's.
As much as I disliked the idea, the trip offered the perfect respite from running. Whenever I travel I really look forward to finding somewhere to run. It is required planning for any trip I make. But to help whatever is wrong with my foot heal up a little, I was committed to not running while I was gone. I didn't even bring my shoes or my gear so that I wouldn't be tempted. I wasn't exactly sure how eight hour days standing around the booth would effect the foot, but I wasn't going to run.
Surprisingly my feet have been tired, as expected, but the pain in my arch has subsided considerably. The rest from running combined with the anti-inflammatory seem to be working quite nicely. It has been a mental challenge to not run. It seems that everyday I've seen at least one of the sales reps on their way out for a run. I even found out after I got here that the trade association conducts a 5K fun run complete with race bibs and t-shirt. This year's event was held at Myrtle Edward Park on Elliot Bay. Under normal circumstances I would have for sure taken part in this event. Instead I slept in Sunday morning.
I have gotten out to some good eats in downtown Seattle. I've had lunch at Virginia Inn, a small laid back bistro, and at Purple Cafe and Wine Bar, a hip wine bar (no wine was drunk since we had to return to the show floor). We've had dinner at Palace Kitchen, a fresh PNW grill. Quite by accident we also had drinks at the Dalia Lounge followed by Pizza at Seriously Pie, all restaurants under the same management. Tonight we are having dinner at a much acclaimed and anticipated, Wild Ginger. I sure hope it lives up to the expectations.
The unfortunate effect of no running, standing at a booth all day and a food tour of Seattle is an expansion of the waistline. Moderation doesn't come easy. I'll be back home Tuesday evening and am scheduled to see the doc on Wednesday. So far things look good. I will stay the course at least until next Monday.
A huge congratulations go out to two of my favorite Canadian bloggers, Mark and Robb for completing to very colorful marathons, the Red Deer Marathon and the Blue Nose Marathon. Mark celebrated his return to the marathon and Robb ran his first.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Better Than 50/50
Now I know why I hate going to the doctor. Once I finally admit that I need their services it is nearly impossible to get in to see them. Admittedly part of this is my own fault due to work schedules and a planned vacation.
I called a doctor in the clinic I usually use. They had an orthopedist/sports medicine guy. He had an appointment on the May 24; 10 days from the day I called. That wasn't going to work because I was planning on being in Carpinteria camping. But then the scheduler found an opening on the 15th due to a cancellation. I took it, but I would be seeing one of the docs PA's first as the doc was in high demand.
Later that day I got a call from the clinic. That appointment "was made in error, could I reschedule for Friday?" Friday is my travel day to the big annual trade show for my industry, so that wasn't going to work. The next time that our schedules coincided was Tuesday, May 29. I wasn't thrilled about that but I took the appointment. I figured two weeks off the foot would probably do it some good anyway.
Later that day Celeste suggested that I give her orthopedist a call. (As a side note, Celeste came back to work for us just last week. So now I'm not a lone soldier in my department anymore and I have a running buddy to commiserate with, Yeah!). Her doc was able to see me on Wednesday at 9:45. I snatched that appointment up.
The doc seemed pretty knowledgeable. He asked about how long it has hurt, whether I changed shoes, etc... He took an x-ray just to see. Of course stress fractures aren't usually found in an x-ray but it is a place to start. The x-ray were unremarkable, no sign of fracture as expected. He also prodded and poked my foot. There was no pain associated with this. Normally the point of the fracture is quite sensitive. Since I'm able to walk without a limp and from everything else he heard and saw he thinks I may just have tendonitis. He prescribed an anti-inflammatory and said he wanted to see me in two weeks. If I still had pain he would send me for a bone scan or MRI to definitively rule out the stress fracture.
I'm pretty much OK with taking the two weeks off. Over the weekend and until Tuesday, May 22. I will be at the trade show. Then I will be in Carp camping until Sunday, May 27. Then things get a little bothersome. The first of the two half marathons is Monday the 28th, Memorial Day. The doc wants to see me on the 30th. So instead of waiting two weeks I have an appointment set up with the doc on Wednesday the 23, the only day I'll actually be home before the race.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the meds will improve the pain (and they should if it is just tendonitis). If the darn thing is still aching then I have a decision to make.
What do you think the odds are that I'll run the half marathon on Memorial Day?
I called a doctor in the clinic I usually use. They had an orthopedist/sports medicine guy. He had an appointment on the May 24; 10 days from the day I called. That wasn't going to work because I was planning on being in Carpinteria camping. But then the scheduler found an opening on the 15th due to a cancellation. I took it, but I would be seeing one of the docs PA's first as the doc was in high demand.
Later that day I got a call from the clinic. That appointment "was made in error, could I reschedule for Friday?" Friday is my travel day to the big annual trade show for my industry, so that wasn't going to work. The next time that our schedules coincided was Tuesday, May 29. I wasn't thrilled about that but I took the appointment. I figured two weeks off the foot would probably do it some good anyway.
Later that day Celeste suggested that I give her orthopedist a call. (As a side note, Celeste came back to work for us just last week. So now I'm not a lone soldier in my department anymore and I have a running buddy to commiserate with, Yeah!). Her doc was able to see me on Wednesday at 9:45. I snatched that appointment up.
The doc seemed pretty knowledgeable. He asked about how long it has hurt, whether I changed shoes, etc... He took an x-ray just to see. Of course stress fractures aren't usually found in an x-ray but it is a place to start. The x-ray were unremarkable, no sign of fracture as expected. He also prodded and poked my foot. There was no pain associated with this. Normally the point of the fracture is quite sensitive. Since I'm able to walk without a limp and from everything else he heard and saw he thinks I may just have tendonitis. He prescribed an anti-inflammatory and said he wanted to see me in two weeks. If I still had pain he would send me for a bone scan or MRI to definitively rule out the stress fracture.
I'm pretty much OK with taking the two weeks off. Over the weekend and until Tuesday, May 22. I will be at the trade show. Then I will be in Carp camping until Sunday, May 27. Then things get a little bothersome. The first of the two half marathons is Monday the 28th, Memorial Day. The doc wants to see me on the 30th. So instead of waiting two weeks I have an appointment set up with the doc on Wednesday the 23, the only day I'll actually be home before the race.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the meds will improve the pain (and they should if it is just tendonitis). If the darn thing is still aching then I have a decision to make.
What do you think the odds are that I'll run the half marathon on Memorial Day?
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Suicide is Painless
The Malibu Creek Trail Challenge
This was the second time I’ve run this race, the first being 2005.Earlier in the week Matt had posted about this race’s connection to M*A*S*H. I actually did see the Jeep this time around; I don’t remember seeing it the first time. I was looking forward to this race for several reason; I really enjoy being off road, I was hoping to better my time from 2005 (2:24) and I was going to get a chance to see Jessica and Matt in person. (thanks to Jessica for the photo of Matt and me)
I did see both of them at the registration area a few minutes before the race started. Matt and I were doing the 14 miler (Matt had already run 13 miles on his own) and Jessica was doing the 4 mile option.
Just before the Jeep the race goes through about a mile of single track. Last time I spent considerable effect overtaking and passing people in this area. This year I just fell in behind a few people and ran conservatively. I knew that once we hit Bulldog, a wide fire road, there would be plenty of opportunities to pass.
One of my pet peeves about running up and down hills in a race is all the people that I pass on the way up that just barrel past me on the way down. The negative side of me thinks “anybody” can do that, why don’t they tough it out and run UP the hill as well. In theory I’m not opposed to walking, it is the perfect strategy for an ultra or someone that isn’t a strong hill runner. I guess it’s just my stubborn pride that makes me want to run up the hill as well, even though at times I realize I’m not “running” all that much faster than some people are walking. I also think that if we are all on the same hill at the same time that they must be at least as strong a hill runner as I, so why not run? For me the race is always lost on the downhill since I’m not a very good downhill runner in the first place. So who am I really frustrated with?
I’ve mentioned my right foot hurting lately. Because of that I took most of this last week off. I was a little concerned about how my foot would hold up on the trails at Malibu Creek. At the start of the race, the foot ached a little but then gave me no problems on the climb up. Unfortunately on the first few short down hills I could tell things were not going to be good. The three mile climb up Bulldog from mile 3 to 6 is followed later by a nearly equivalent continuous down hill from mile 9 to 12. By mile 9 my foot was pretty uncomfortable. I even felt like things were moving around in there, things that weren’t supposed to be moving. Each step down was pretty tentative. I was reduced to nearly a walk on the down hill, I sure got passed a lot this time. The occasional uphill section offered some relief.
During a run my head gets filled with all kinds of random thoughts. A lot of those thoughts make it here; many of them are left behind on the trail. During those painful miles I started to question why had I signed up for a trail race knowing the condition of my foot – not very smart. Why did I insist on running the race – just plain stubborn. For some reason the M*A*S*H theme song popped into my head – Suicide is painless.
It wasn’t really painless but I thought I had probably just committed the equivalent of running suicide, jeopardizing at least the near future. I was sure that I was doing damage that I hadn’t really needed to do, but I keep moving forward. With each painful step down hill I saw my 2:10 goal disappear, then 2:24, then even 2:30. After the long descent there is one final hill that seems bigger than it really is because of its placement at mile 13. That hill is a demoralizer, but I was looking forward to something other than down hill. Just to keep the negative thought train going here, I thought “this trail sucks, I suck!” And finally at 2:37:55 it was over.
Thankfully I have a short memory and after having some food and chatting with Jessica at the finish line, I was back to my normal self. My foot ached, but walking was not that uncomfortable. After Jess left I decided to walk back out the road about ¼ miles to the end of the trail and wait for Matt to come in. He was about 30 minutes behind his projected time, but was still upbeat. I walked that final stretch with him. He grabbed some food and we sat, talked and cheered the half dozen or so people that finished later. I probably mentioned my foot about a hundred times during that hour, sorry Matt. Matt is such a laid back guy, it was good to spend some time with him.
Many people, especially my wife, have suggested to me that I have a doctor check out my foot. I’m not much for visiting the health care professional. I pretty much subscribe to the “ignorance is bliss” school of medical prevention. It’s that whole stubborn, stupid thing.
After being home and bare foot for a couple of hours my foot ached pretty badly. I had some errands to run so I decided to wear my running shoes for the best support. I kept them on the remainder of the day and things felt better, sore, but better.
Tomorrow morning I will make a doctor’s appointment. If I don’t’ I’m going to need more than my foot looked at (right, Lisa?). Today my quads are sore, but it’s the good kind of sore that I enjoy. I will live to run another day, I just don’t know when right now.
Through early morning fog I see
visions of the things to be
the pains that are withheld for me
I realize and I can see...
That suicide is painless
it brings on many changes
and I can take or leave it if I please.
"Suicide is Painless"
Music by Johnny Mandel
Lyrics by Mike Altman
This was the second time I’ve run this race, the first being 2005.Earlier in the week Matt had posted about this race’s connection to M*A*S*H. I actually did see the Jeep this time around; I don’t remember seeing it the first time. I was looking forward to this race for several reason; I really enjoy being off road, I was hoping to better my time from 2005 (2:24) and I was going to get a chance to see Jessica and Matt in person. (thanks to Jessica for the photo of Matt and me)
I did see both of them at the registration area a few minutes before the race started. Matt and I were doing the 14 miler (Matt had already run 13 miles on his own) and Jessica was doing the 4 mile option.Just before the Jeep the race goes through about a mile of single track. Last time I spent considerable effect overtaking and passing people in this area. This year I just fell in behind a few people and ran conservatively. I knew that once we hit Bulldog, a wide fire road, there would be plenty of opportunities to pass.
One of my pet peeves about running up and down hills in a race is all the people that I pass on the way up that just barrel past me on the way down. The negative side of me thinks “anybody” can do that, why don’t they tough it out and run UP the hill as well. In theory I’m not opposed to walking, it is the perfect strategy for an ultra or someone that isn’t a strong hill runner. I guess it’s just my stubborn pride that makes me want to run up the hill as well, even though at times I realize I’m not “running” all that much faster than some people are walking. I also think that if we are all on the same hill at the same time that they must be at least as strong a hill runner as I, so why not run? For me the race is always lost on the downhill since I’m not a very good downhill runner in the first place. So who am I really frustrated with?
I’ve mentioned my right foot hurting lately. Because of that I took most of this last week off. I was a little concerned about how my foot would hold up on the trails at Malibu Creek. At the start of the race, the foot ached a little but then gave me no problems on the climb up. Unfortunately on the first few short down hills I could tell things were not going to be good. The three mile climb up Bulldog from mile 3 to 6 is followed later by a nearly equivalent continuous down hill from mile 9 to 12. By mile 9 my foot was pretty uncomfortable. I even felt like things were moving around in there, things that weren’t supposed to be moving. Each step down was pretty tentative. I was reduced to nearly a walk on the down hill, I sure got passed a lot this time. The occasional uphill section offered some relief.
During a run my head gets filled with all kinds of random thoughts. A lot of those thoughts make it here; many of them are left behind on the trail. During those painful miles I started to question why had I signed up for a trail race knowing the condition of my foot – not very smart. Why did I insist on running the race – just plain stubborn. For some reason the M*A*S*H theme song popped into my head – Suicide is painless.
It wasn’t really painless but I thought I had probably just committed the equivalent of running suicide, jeopardizing at least the near future. I was sure that I was doing damage that I hadn’t really needed to do, but I keep moving forward. With each painful step down hill I saw my 2:10 goal disappear, then 2:24, then even 2:30. After the long descent there is one final hill that seems bigger than it really is because of its placement at mile 13. That hill is a demoralizer, but I was looking forward to something other than down hill. Just to keep the negative thought train going here, I thought “this trail sucks, I suck!” And finally at 2:37:55 it was over.
Thankfully I have a short memory and after having some food and chatting with Jessica at the finish line, I was back to my normal self. My foot ached, but walking was not that uncomfortable. After Jess left I decided to walk back out the road about ¼ miles to the end of the trail and wait for Matt to come in. He was about 30 minutes behind his projected time, but was still upbeat. I walked that final stretch with him. He grabbed some food and we sat, talked and cheered the half dozen or so people that finished later. I probably mentioned my foot about a hundred times during that hour, sorry Matt. Matt is such a laid back guy, it was good to spend some time with him.
Many people, especially my wife, have suggested to me that I have a doctor check out my foot. I’m not much for visiting the health care professional. I pretty much subscribe to the “ignorance is bliss” school of medical prevention. It’s that whole stubborn, stupid thing.
After being home and bare foot for a couple of hours my foot ached pretty badly. I had some errands to run so I decided to wear my running shoes for the best support. I kept them on the remainder of the day and things felt better, sore, but better.
Tomorrow morning I will make a doctor’s appointment. If I don’t’ I’m going to need more than my foot looked at (right, Lisa?). Today my quads are sore, but it’s the good kind of sore that I enjoy. I will live to run another day, I just don’t know when right now.
Through early morning fog I see
visions of the things to be
the pains that are withheld for me
I realize and I can see...
That suicide is painless
it brings on many changes
and I can take or leave it if I please.
"Suicide is Painless"
Music by Johnny Mandel
Lyrics by Mike Altman
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
From the Halls of Montezuma
Registration opened today, so I wasted no time getting myself signed up. I immediately called Dr. John to make sure they had signed up as well. Although it won't officially be another state, I'm sure it will be quite the experience. June 25th will begin the official training. I still hope to sneak something else in there, but it is less of a priority now that I have an official goal.
Sunday, May 06, 2007
Past, Present and Future
Past:
Here's a summary of the results from Eugene as posted at onlineraceresults.com
Summary
number of finishers: 1497
number of females: 660
number of males: 835
average time: 04:21:43
Darrell James
bib number: M509
age: 45
gender: M
location: Covina, CA
overall place: 444 out of 1497
division place: 44 out of 113
gender place: 344 out of 835
time: 3:44:39
pace: 8:35
half: 1:46:15
20mile: 2:45:42
last10k: 58:57
I'm amazed at all the number 44's in my placing and that I wasn't very far off the mark when I hit the half way point. The photos are up at ASI. Check me out on the way to the finish. Lisa said I was leaning way to the left and looked like I was about to fall over. This picture (-035) shows that pretty clearly.
This is the picture she took of me on the way to the finish line, not looking too bad there.
Another interesting story about the marathon that I forgot to relate. Just as we were about to board the flight home I notice a guy sitting across and down in the waiting room wearing the fluorescent yellow Maniac jacket. I approached him and asked him the obvious question and yes he had. He was Maniac #184, Eddie Hahn. It turns out his seat on the plane was just across the aisle from mine and he regaled me with marathon stories the whole way home. It sure made the trip home go really quickly. Eddie has run a lot of marathons all over the world, thanks to his 20 years in the Army, including 27 states.
Past (Part 2):
I can't let a month go by without updating the mileage stats. I ran 146.6 miles in April, my lowest total so far in 2007. April would have been the lowest mileage month accounting for the taper but the cold just made it a little bit lower. The week of the marathon the only miles I ran was the marathon itself. I've still got some miles in the bank if I want to complete the 2007 in 2007.
Present:
This week was a recovery week. I almost always take off after a marathon until the following Saturday. This time I really didn't have much choice, the cold had me pretty wiped out all week. I was able to get over to Bonelli on Saturday morning. The weather was very much like the weather the prior weekend in Eugene, partly sunny in the 50-60 degree range. I ran the trails around the perimeter of the park for 9 miles. I took it nice and easy. Right from the get go my right foot hurt. It hurts across the top on the inside below my ankle, the navicular bone, based on my web search. It has hurt off and on for awhile now. It hurt from the get go at Eugene as well. I was hoping that after a week off it would feel better. It is especially sore on the down hills. My calves were also in knots most of this run. Later in the day I was pretty spent.
Here's a summary of the results from Eugene as posted at onlineraceresults.com
Summary
number of finishers: 1497
number of females: 660
number of males: 835
average time: 04:21:43
Darrell James
bib number: M509
age: 45
gender: M
location: Covina, CA
overall place: 444 out of 1497
division place: 44 out of 113
gender place: 344 out of 835
time: 3:44:39
pace: 8:35
half: 1:46:15
20mile: 2:45:42
last10k: 58:57
I'm amazed at all the number 44's in my placing and that I wasn't very far off the mark when I hit the half way point. The photos are up at ASI. Check me out on the way to the finish. Lisa said I was leaning way to the left and looked like I was about to fall over. This picture (-035) shows that pretty clearly.
This is the picture she took of me on the way to the finish line, not looking too bad there.Another interesting story about the marathon that I forgot to relate. Just as we were about to board the flight home I notice a guy sitting across and down in the waiting room wearing the fluorescent yellow Maniac jacket. I approached him and asked him the obvious question and yes he had. He was Maniac #184, Eddie Hahn. It turns out his seat on the plane was just across the aisle from mine and he regaled me with marathon stories the whole way home. It sure made the trip home go really quickly. Eddie has run a lot of marathons all over the world, thanks to his 20 years in the Army, including 27 states.
Past (Part 2):
I can't let a month go by without updating the mileage stats. I ran 146.6 miles in April, my lowest total so far in 2007. April would have been the lowest mileage month accounting for the taper but the cold just made it a little bit lower. The week of the marathon the only miles I ran was the marathon itself. I've still got some miles in the bank if I want to complete the 2007 in 2007.
Present:
This week was a recovery week. I almost always take off after a marathon until the following Saturday. This time I really didn't have much choice, the cold had me pretty wiped out all week. I was able to get over to Bonelli on Saturday morning. The weather was very much like the weather the prior weekend in Eugene, partly sunny in the 50-60 degree range. I ran the trails around the perimeter of the park for 9 miles. I took it nice and easy. Right from the get go my right foot hurt. It hurts across the top on the inside below my ankle, the navicular bone, based on my web search. It has hurt off and on for awhile now. It hurt from the get go at Eugene as well. I was hoping that after a week off it would feel better. It is especially sore on the down hills. My calves were also in knots most of this run. Later in the day I was pretty spent.
Miles for the week: 9
M: 0
T: 0
W:0
H:0
F:0
S: 9 miles, 1:35:17 (10:35 pace)
S: 0
This weeks numbers make last week look like a high mileage week!
Future:
Earlier in the week I firmed up some plans for a couple of local races. I signed up for the Malibu Creek Trail Challenge. I ran this race in 2005. I missed it last year because it fell on the same day as race #2 in the 5k series. My original goal was to surpass my 2005 time. Now I'm a little worried about the foot instead.
I also signed up for the Fontana Days Half Marathon. This will be my third running of this event on June 2.
Our family usually goes camping over Memorial Day weekend with a group from church. This year they way things fell together we didn't get a spot, which turns out to be a good thing because we are invited to a wedding on Sunday the day before Memorial Day. We may spend a couple of days sharing a site with some other families. All this means I will be home on Memorial Day for the first time since I began running. The Saddleback Memorial Half Marathon is run on Monday. I've wanted to do this race and now I have a chance. The cool thing is the two races, Fontana and Saddleback are only 5 days apart. Many people run both. I think it will be fun.
Tyler wants me to find another 5k for us to do. That's a request I will be happy to take care of.
Still no definitive marathon plans, but I will be looking. Wherever I go will likely be without Lisa, so all I have to do is find a state she has no interest in. How hard could that be? Marine Corps registration opens this coming week and Rocket City with Joe and Wes seems darn inviting. I've doubled my number of states in the year and a half that this blog has been on-line, so I've got to keep the momentum rolling. With 40 more to go, I'm looking at a good 10-15 years before I'm done.
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Eugene - A Step Forward, A Step Backward
Three days since the big race, the Inaugural Eugene Marathon, and the details are starting to get a little fuzzy but here goes.
My wife and I flew up to Portland early Saturday morning. So much for getting a good night's sleep two nights before the race. The flight to Portland from LAX took about 2 hours followed by a 2 hour drive down I-5 to Eugene. We were immediately struck by the trees and green everywhere. The PNW is just beautiful. Eugene is home to the University of Oregon. Team spirit is obvious everywhere. The one way streets in Eugene gave us some problems but I got to the expo around noon on Saturday and enjoyed lunch at the 6th Street Grill. We drove over to Hayward Field to assess the starting area. I had heard that Hayward Field was open to the public and thought to run a mile for Drew, but there was a meet going on (sorry, man). Later that afternoon we met up with Michelle and Jenny and a whole host of Washington runners. Rob and Eric had finished Capitol Peak Ultra but were still in Washington, hours from Eugene. We were joined by Sarah, Mark and her little guy before long. It was certainly fun getting to meet the person behind the blog.
I woke up Sunday morning to a beautiful day. I couldn't really believe that I was about to run another marathon. I was happy to be feeling much better considering how I had felt earlier in the week. On Friday at work many of my (non running) co-workers were questioning the wisdom of running a marathon with the cold symptoms still obviously hanging on. I tried to explain to them just how much I had invested in this little endeavour - training time, plane tickets, hotel reservations, etc. They were afraid that I would make myself sicker and end up with bronchitis or pneumonia. I guess the possibility exists but it was sure going to take more than a cold to keep me from running this, or any, marathon.
I drove over to the start, a 15-20 minute drive from our hotel. I got a good luck kiss from Lisa and walked toward the starting area and realized I didn't have my fuel belt. I always run a marathon with my fuel belt. I like having fluids when I want them and it had my gels in it. The start was still 40 minutes off so we drove (quickly) to the hotel and back again with 10 minutes to spare. Thank goodness for a small race field. As soon as I joined the masses I ran into Rob, Eric and Sarah. The others were in the port-o-john lines. It was good to see Rob again and to finally meet Eric. We discussed my primary race tactic as just trying to stay ahead of Rob and Eric. I also ended up running into Denis and John from the CA Cruisers, again thanks to the small race field.
The race started on the street just east of Hayward Field. It would have been cool to run a lap on the track but at the start of the race that probably would have caused quite the log jam even with the small field. At mile 5 we ended up on the west side of the field and were a little more spread out, but a lap on the track was not to be.
Rob ended up lining up in the back of the pack. Eric was near the 3:30 pace group. Things were a little crowded so I decided not to work my way up to him. After the start I caught up to him and we ran about 1/2 mile together before I decided to ramp things up a bit. Mile 1 went by in 8:28, a little conservative but probably not too detrimental to the 3:30 goal.
Mile 2 - 7:18
Mile 3 - 7:41
Mile 4 - 7:55
Mile 2 I went a little overboard on the downhill but got things back in control by mile 4. Just after mile 4 I made my first port-o-john stop, mostly as a preemptive measure. Having not run all week the system wasn't quite where I'd like it to be. I decided to get things taken care of early before I reached a panic situation.
Mile 5, 6, 7 - 24:43
I still felt that I was on track considering the bathroom stop. In yet another episode of poor planning I didn't have a pace band to determine my cumulative time. I was going simply by the time at each mile and up to that point I believed I was still under 8:00 miles (turns out I was right on at 8:01).
Mile 8 - 7:51
Mile 9, 10, 11 - 24:05
Mile 12 - 8:00
During Mile 12 we were in the town Springfield. One man outside his home hollered out "Welcome to Springfield, you won't be here much longer." I'm not sure if that was supposed to be encouraging or just wishful thinking on his part.
Mile 13, 14 - 17:53
Somewhere along in this stretch I had stopped to take bathroom break #2. I noted my time in there at just over 2:00. I was happy that even with the 2:00 minute break I had maintained roughly an 8:00 pace. Later I figured out that I was at 1:53:53 at that point, I needed to be at 1:52:13 to make my goal.
Mile 15 - 8:14
I wasn't sure what had happened here. I hadn't felt like I had slowed down but the watch clearly showed that I had. After this marker I saw Lisa for the first time. She asked how I felt. I told her I was slowing down.
Mile 16 - 8:18
Mile 17 - 8:24
Mile 18 - 8:41
Mile 19 - 8:57
At this point the half marathoners were no longer with us, they had departed at our mile 13, so the field had thinned considerably. At one point there were people within striking distance ahead of me but no one within a couple hundred yards behind me. Mile 18 to 20 were a very tough section for me. Much of these miles were also on concrete bike path. I really dislike running on concrete. I think it effected me more mentally than physically. At Mile 19 we crossed over the Oswosso bridge into a really cute neighborhood of Eugene. I marveled at the rhododendrons and other flowering shrubs. I came upon a guy that had been reduced to walking. He would run a few steps and start walking again. I could feel his pain. I took my first and only walk break as well. I walked for about 30 seconds and then convinced myself not to give in and ran on.
Mile 20, 21 - 18:16
Somehow at mile 20 I started to feel a little better but didn't really pick up the pace. Just after mile 20 I was passed by the 3:40 pace group, about 8 people. It was at that point that I conceded for sure my 3:30 goal and wasn't even sure I could hang on to 3:40.
Mile 22 - 9:05
Mile 23 - 10:47
During Mile 23 I had to stop for the 3rd time at the port-o-johns. I've been having a lot of trouble lately with this during my long runs. I'm not sure if its a byproduct of age or diet or if there's something medically wrong. But getting this under control would have saved me about 6 minutes on my overall time.
Mile 24 - 9:32
Mile 25 - 9:11
Mile 26 - 9:16
Mile 0.2 - 2:05
Final chip time was 3:44:39. So although my hopes of a BQ weren't realized I was pretty happy with the race. Possible problems could have been the effects of the head cold. The potty stops definitely had an effect. Making the boneheaded beginner mistake of going out fast, may have also contributed to my demise after mile 14. My PR is 3:40:52 at St. George with the assistance of the downhill course, so I don't feel too badly about adding 3:47 to my time on a flat course. Sorry Terry, but my race time has nothing to do with something as noble as administering CPR.
It was a beautiful day for a race, the temps were in the 50's most of the way, the sky was partly cloudy and there was only a light breeze. The people of Eugene were fantastic about encouraging runners; we had our names on our bibs. I wore my Marathon Maniac singlet and that got me a lot of extra love from the locals. At the finish line I got a Maniac Hug from Lenore Dolphin. In addition I had achieved my goal of staying ahead of Rob and Eric. Eric was less than 3 minutes behind me. As runners were passing me in the last miles I kept expecting to see his yellow Maniac jersey going by. So yes, Eric, I did hear your footsteps coming and that kept me moving forward. Rob had a tough day, but he's still an inspiration. I ended up running into Denis and John again in the cool down area. They finished just after 4:30. I ran into Sarah too and got to chat for a while.
Later that afternoon we enjoyed lunch with Michelle, Eric, Rob, Jenny and George before they left for the long drive back to Washington. Saturday night during dinner, #1 son called and asked me about the race. When I told him my time, he asked what happened to the 3:30 I wanted. I told him that I really didn't think I could do it anyway. He told me "Well it's no wonder you didn't make it if you had already decided that you couldn't." I couldn't really argue with that logic. It seems to me that I had a similar conversation with him in reverse several years ago. I guess they really do hear what we tell them. A little later we checked in with son #2. Less than a minute after hanging up with him he called us back to ask about the race. It is pretty cool that they were both interested and thinking about me.
For Lisa and I these trips are as much a mini vacation for us as they are a chance for me to run a marathon. It is nice to get away from work and home for a couple of days to be alone together. We like to check out the local area and enjoy the sights and food. Saturday night we enjoyed dinner at Koho Bistro, a little place in a strip mall off the beaten path with very good food. I had the Maple Butternut Squash Ravioli.
After lunch with the WA Maniacs we headed down to Cottage Grove for the covered bridge tour. The route took us around the Dorena Reservoir, a very scenic drive. The Row River Trail runs between the road and reservoir. I was excited about it as a great place to go for a run. On the way back we stopped and got some really good coffee drinks at one of the little trailer coffee shops that are everywhere in Oregon. We stopped at the Sweet Life Patisserie in Eugene and picked up a Chocolate Cherry Cheesecake tartlet, a piece of Peach crumb pie and a peanut butter cup to enjoy later. We had dinner at the Steelhead Brewery.
No trip would be complete without finding a good local pancake house for breakfast. We discovered Ye Olde Pancake House for Monday morning. We spent the rest of the day at the Oregon Garden in Silverton. It is a fairly new garden but has some wonderful displays. The problem with taking my wife to these places is that she wants to have the gardens recreated in our yard. Unfortunately gardening in SoCal is not quite the same as gardening in Oregon. I do enjoy gardening, but haven't put much effort into it since we moved to this house, although I really don't like the landscaping we inherited. Since I've taken up running the lawn and garden have definitely been neglected. I've got my priorities you know.
Drew and many others have asked what's next. Drew specifically asked about my Colorado plans. Currently Boulder Backroads is my choice based on magazine reviews. It looks like I will be joining several of the CA Cruisers at the Marine Corps Marathon in October. I feel like I have time to squeeze in at least one more state before then. I'm certain I will count MCM as my DC marathon. I have Richmond planned as my VA marathon.
As far as the cold goes, I can't say for sure that it affected the marathon. But I can say that the two things have had a synergistic negative effect on recovery. I feel worse three days later than I can ever remember feeling after a marathon (is that runner's amnesia) and the cold symptoms have worsened. I expect to be running by Saturday at the latest.
So Donald, there's the Eugene race report and more. Thanks to you all for hanging in there to the end and for the support in person and via the blog. Time to firm up the plans for Number 11.
My wife and I flew up to Portland early Saturday morning. So much for getting a good night's sleep two nights before the race. The flight to Portland from LAX took about 2 hours followed by a 2 hour drive down I-5 to Eugene. We were immediately struck by the trees and green everywhere. The PNW is just beautiful. Eugene is home to the University of Oregon. Team spirit is obvious everywhere. The one way streets in Eugene gave us some problems but I got to the expo around noon on Saturday and enjoyed lunch at the 6th Street Grill. We drove over to Hayward Field to assess the starting area. I had heard that Hayward Field was open to the public and thought to run a mile for Drew, but there was a meet going on (sorry, man). Later that afternoon we met up with Michelle and Jenny and a whole host of Washington runners. Rob and Eric had finished Capitol Peak Ultra but were still in Washington, hours from Eugene. We were joined by Sarah, Mark and her little guy before long. It was certainly fun getting to meet the person behind the blog.
I woke up Sunday morning to a beautiful day. I couldn't really believe that I was about to run another marathon. I was happy to be feeling much better considering how I had felt earlier in the week. On Friday at work many of my (non running) co-workers were questioning the wisdom of running a marathon with the cold symptoms still obviously hanging on. I tried to explain to them just how much I had invested in this little endeavour - training time, plane tickets, hotel reservations, etc. They were afraid that I would make myself sicker and end up with bronchitis or pneumonia. I guess the possibility exists but it was sure going to take more than a cold to keep me from running this, or any, marathon.
I drove over to the start, a 15-20 minute drive from our hotel. I got a good luck kiss from Lisa and walked toward the starting area and realized I didn't have my fuel belt. I always run a marathon with my fuel belt. I like having fluids when I want them and it had my gels in it. The start was still 40 minutes off so we drove (quickly) to the hotel and back again with 10 minutes to spare. Thank goodness for a small race field. As soon as I joined the masses I ran into Rob, Eric and Sarah. The others were in the port-o-john lines. It was good to see Rob again and to finally meet Eric. We discussed my primary race tactic as just trying to stay ahead of Rob and Eric. I also ended up running into Denis and John from the CA Cruisers, again thanks to the small race field.
The race started on the street just east of Hayward Field. It would have been cool to run a lap on the track but at the start of the race that probably would have caused quite the log jam even with the small field. At mile 5 we ended up on the west side of the field and were a little more spread out, but a lap on the track was not to be.
Rob ended up lining up in the back of the pack. Eric was near the 3:30 pace group. Things were a little crowded so I decided not to work my way up to him. After the start I caught up to him and we ran about 1/2 mile together before I decided to ramp things up a bit. Mile 1 went by in 8:28, a little conservative but probably not too detrimental to the 3:30 goal.
Mile 2 - 7:18
Mile 3 - 7:41
Mile 4 - 7:55
Mile 2 I went a little overboard on the downhill but got things back in control by mile 4. Just after mile 4 I made my first port-o-john stop, mostly as a preemptive measure. Having not run all week the system wasn't quite where I'd like it to be. I decided to get things taken care of early before I reached a panic situation.
Mile 5, 6, 7 - 24:43
I still felt that I was on track considering the bathroom stop. In yet another episode of poor planning I didn't have a pace band to determine my cumulative time. I was going simply by the time at each mile and up to that point I believed I was still under 8:00 miles (turns out I was right on at 8:01).
Mile 8 - 7:51
Mile 9, 10, 11 - 24:05
Mile 12 - 8:00
During Mile 12 we were in the town Springfield. One man outside his home hollered out "Welcome to Springfield, you won't be here much longer." I'm not sure if that was supposed to be encouraging or just wishful thinking on his part.
Mile 13, 14 - 17:53
Somewhere along in this stretch I had stopped to take bathroom break #2. I noted my time in there at just over 2:00. I was happy that even with the 2:00 minute break I had maintained roughly an 8:00 pace. Later I figured out that I was at 1:53:53 at that point, I needed to be at 1:52:13 to make my goal.
Mile 15 - 8:14
I wasn't sure what had happened here. I hadn't felt like I had slowed down but the watch clearly showed that I had. After this marker I saw Lisa for the first time. She asked how I felt. I told her I was slowing down.
Mile 16 - 8:18
Mile 17 - 8:24
Mile 18 - 8:41
Mile 19 - 8:57
At this point the half marathoners were no longer with us, they had departed at our mile 13, so the field had thinned considerably. At one point there were people within striking distance ahead of me but no one within a couple hundred yards behind me. Mile 18 to 20 were a very tough section for me. Much of these miles were also on concrete bike path. I really dislike running on concrete. I think it effected me more mentally than physically. At Mile 19 we crossed over the Oswosso bridge into a really cute neighborhood of Eugene. I marveled at the rhododendrons and other flowering shrubs. I came upon a guy that had been reduced to walking. He would run a few steps and start walking again. I could feel his pain. I took my first and only walk break as well. I walked for about 30 seconds and then convinced myself not to give in and ran on.
Mile 20, 21 - 18:16
Somehow at mile 20 I started to feel a little better but didn't really pick up the pace. Just after mile 20 I was passed by the 3:40 pace group, about 8 people. It was at that point that I conceded for sure my 3:30 goal and wasn't even sure I could hang on to 3:40.
Mile 22 - 9:05
Mile 23 - 10:47
During Mile 23 I had to stop for the 3rd time at the port-o-johns. I've been having a lot of trouble lately with this during my long runs. I'm not sure if its a byproduct of age or diet or if there's something medically wrong. But getting this under control would have saved me about 6 minutes on my overall time.
Mile 24 - 9:32
Mile 25 - 9:11
Mile 26 - 9:16
Mile 0.2 - 2:05
Final chip time was 3:44:39. So although my hopes of a BQ weren't realized I was pretty happy with the race. Possible problems could have been the effects of the head cold. The potty stops definitely had an effect. Making the boneheaded beginner mistake of going out fast, may have also contributed to my demise after mile 14. My PR is 3:40:52 at St. George with the assistance of the downhill course, so I don't feel too badly about adding 3:47 to my time on a flat course. Sorry Terry, but my race time has nothing to do with something as noble as administering CPR.
It was a beautiful day for a race, the temps were in the 50's most of the way, the sky was partly cloudy and there was only a light breeze. The people of Eugene were fantastic about encouraging runners; we had our names on our bibs. I wore my Marathon Maniac singlet and that got me a lot of extra love from the locals. At the finish line I got a Maniac Hug from Lenore Dolphin. In addition I had achieved my goal of staying ahead of Rob and Eric. Eric was less than 3 minutes behind me. As runners were passing me in the last miles I kept expecting to see his yellow Maniac jersey going by. So yes, Eric, I did hear your footsteps coming and that kept me moving forward. Rob had a tough day, but he's still an inspiration. I ended up running into Denis and John again in the cool down area. They finished just after 4:30. I ran into Sarah too and got to chat for a while.
Later that afternoon we enjoyed lunch with Michelle, Eric, Rob, Jenny and George before they left for the long drive back to Washington. Saturday night during dinner, #1 son called and asked me about the race. When I told him my time, he asked what happened to the 3:30 I wanted. I told him that I really didn't think I could do it anyway. He told me "Well it's no wonder you didn't make it if you had already decided that you couldn't." I couldn't really argue with that logic. It seems to me that I had a similar conversation with him in reverse several years ago. I guess they really do hear what we tell them. A little later we checked in with son #2. Less than a minute after hanging up with him he called us back to ask about the race. It is pretty cool that they were both interested and thinking about me.
For Lisa and I these trips are as much a mini vacation for us as they are a chance for me to run a marathon. It is nice to get away from work and home for a couple of days to be alone together. We like to check out the local area and enjoy the sights and food. Saturday night we enjoyed dinner at Koho Bistro, a little place in a strip mall off the beaten path with very good food. I had the Maple Butternut Squash Ravioli.
After lunch with the WA Maniacs we headed down to Cottage Grove for the covered bridge tour. The route took us around the Dorena Reservoir, a very scenic drive. The Row River Trail runs between the road and reservoir. I was excited about it as a great place to go for a run. On the way back we stopped and got some really good coffee drinks at one of the little trailer coffee shops that are everywhere in Oregon. We stopped at the Sweet Life Patisserie in Eugene and picked up a Chocolate Cherry Cheesecake tartlet, a piece of Peach crumb pie and a peanut butter cup to enjoy later. We had dinner at the Steelhead Brewery.
No trip would be complete without finding a good local pancake house for breakfast. We discovered Ye Olde Pancake House for Monday morning. We spent the rest of the day at the Oregon Garden in Silverton. It is a fairly new garden but has some wonderful displays. The problem with taking my wife to these places is that she wants to have the gardens recreated in our yard. Unfortunately gardening in SoCal is not quite the same as gardening in Oregon. I do enjoy gardening, but haven't put much effort into it since we moved to this house, although I really don't like the landscaping we inherited. Since I've taken up running the lawn and garden have definitely been neglected. I've got my priorities you know.
Drew and many others have asked what's next. Drew specifically asked about my Colorado plans. Currently Boulder Backroads is my choice based on magazine reviews. It looks like I will be joining several of the CA Cruisers at the Marine Corps Marathon in October. I feel like I have time to squeeze in at least one more state before then. I'm certain I will count MCM as my DC marathon. I have Richmond planned as my VA marathon.
As far as the cold goes, I can't say for sure that it affected the marathon. But I can say that the two things have had a synergistic negative effect on recovery. I feel worse three days later than I can ever remember feeling after a marathon (is that runner's amnesia) and the cold symptoms have worsened. I expect to be running by Saturday at the latest.
So Donald, there's the Eugene race report and more. Thanks to you all for hanging in there to the end and for the support in person and via the blog. Time to firm up the plans for Number 11.
Friday, April 27, 2007
No Turning Back Now
I've taken taper to a whole new level this time around. I haven't run a step since my run last Sunday with Joe in West Lafayette. Tomorrow Saturday, my lovely wife and I, get on a plane first thing in the morning bound for Portland, then into a rental car for the 2 hour drive to Eugene. I doubt I'll be lucking into a Volvo this time around.
Monday morning I awoke and the cold had worked itself up into its glorious crescendo. I haven't felt this badly in years. I basically haven't had more than a mild case of the sniffles since I started running over three years ago. I felt so bad that if I had been at home I would have called in sick. But since I was miles from home and had set up appointments weeks ago I stuck to my schedule. I walked away whenever I felt I had to cough and washed by hands every time I had to blow my nose. I hope I didn't share my germs to carelessly. Monday was a planned rest day so I was OK.
Tuesday called for 4 but I just decided that the day off wouldn't hurt me and trying to run against fighting off the cold might be more damaging than helpful. I left Indiana Tuesday afternoon and drove back to Chicagoland. Wednesday and Thursday I awoke to light rain, again I opted out of the run. No sense running the risk of making things worse. I did feel better but nowhere near 100%. I was holding out for a run Thursday evening back home on my own turf.
Needless to say that didn't happen either. So things are about as good as they are going to get before Eugene. I have no idea what will happen there. I can't decide whether I should scale back my pace and shoot for a reasonable time; 3:45 or so, based on my current health. Or should I give it all I've got going for the 8:00 miles. If I do I fall apart after that I expect I will really stink up the last few miles and then who knows how my finishing time will turn out. Not finishing is not an option. State number 10 will be conquered one way or another, I'm just afraid it won't be very pretty.
This weekend is also the Big Sur Marathon. I'll be thinking about Donald out there, pushing his way to another fine finish at a tough but beautiful course. I am going to make an exception for California and run this one someday (maybe in 2008). I'm going to miss seeing Drew up there in Eugene. He was planning on running it as a way to celebrate his birthday. Happy Birthday, Drew and here's hoping you can get your running goals back to where you'd like them to be. Getting to meet Michelle, Eric, Sarah, Jenny and Rob will be a highlight of Oregon no matter the race outcome. I hope you all have a great race and I'll see you at the finish line.
Miles:
M: Rest
T: 0
W: 0
H:0
F:0
S: Rest
S: 26.2 one way or another!
Monday morning I awoke and the cold had worked itself up into its glorious crescendo. I haven't felt this badly in years. I basically haven't had more than a mild case of the sniffles since I started running over three years ago. I felt so bad that if I had been at home I would have called in sick. But since I was miles from home and had set up appointments weeks ago I stuck to my schedule. I walked away whenever I felt I had to cough and washed by hands every time I had to blow my nose. I hope I didn't share my germs to carelessly. Monday was a planned rest day so I was OK.
Tuesday called for 4 but I just decided that the day off wouldn't hurt me and trying to run against fighting off the cold might be more damaging than helpful. I left Indiana Tuesday afternoon and drove back to Chicagoland. Wednesday and Thursday I awoke to light rain, again I opted out of the run. No sense running the risk of making things worse. I did feel better but nowhere near 100%. I was holding out for a run Thursday evening back home on my own turf.
Needless to say that didn't happen either. So things are about as good as they are going to get before Eugene. I have no idea what will happen there. I can't decide whether I should scale back my pace and shoot for a reasonable time; 3:45 or so, based on my current health. Or should I give it all I've got going for the 8:00 miles. If I do I fall apart after that I expect I will really stink up the last few miles and then who knows how my finishing time will turn out. Not finishing is not an option. State number 10 will be conquered one way or another, I'm just afraid it won't be very pretty.
This weekend is also the Big Sur Marathon. I'll be thinking about Donald out there, pushing his way to another fine finish at a tough but beautiful course. I am going to make an exception for California and run this one someday (maybe in 2008). I'm going to miss seeing Drew up there in Eugene. He was planning on running it as a way to celebrate his birthday. Happy Birthday, Drew and here's hoping you can get your running goals back to where you'd like them to be. Getting to meet Michelle, Eric, Sarah, Jenny and Rob will be a highlight of Oregon no matter the race outcome. I hope you all have a great race and I'll see you at the finish line.
Miles:
M: Rest
T: 0
W: 0
H:0
F:0
S: Rest
S: 26.2 one way or another!
Monday, April 23, 2007
Eugene Training - Week 16
Another week gone by. I've had no time to blog, although is seems that when I'm out running I have plenty of thoughts running through my head that might end up here if I only had the time to make it happen. I could work my way back through a whole week but it likely wouldn't be the most engaging read and would end up being way to long, rather I will attempt to summarize.
It is now Monday evening and I'm at a Hampton Inn in Fort Wayne, IN. This is the end of my 5th day on the road. I left home at 4:00 a.m. last Thursday and will get back home this Thursday in the early afternoon. I have gotten some good feedback on our new product and more importantly to this blog, I have maintained my running schedule.
I ran Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday as detailed below. All three different routes, once on the Cottontail Trail in Bonelli (I never saw a single rabbit by the way), once at the far north end of the San Gabriel River Bikeway and lastly on the equestrian trail in Via Verde.
I arrived in Indianapolis early Thursday evening by way of a plane flight to Chicago and a 3 hour rental car ride to Indy. I was upgraded in the car because of the big corporate connection so I'm tooling around the Midwest in a Volvo S40. I've never driven a Volvo before. I am very impressed with its handling and ride. I drove over to Eagle Creek Park for a 4 mile run. The park is criss crossed with roads and trails. The trails run along the large reservoir. I just ran for time and doubled back several times. There were many other runners out and about in the park.
Friday morning I got up early and ran another 4 miles through the business park and neighborhood adjacent to the hotel. I had mapped out a route the night before. But because of the rapid growth and development in town many of the streets had been rerouted and reading street signs in the dark turned out to be more difficult than I expected. I was confused by my first turn but continued on and basically ran for time again. I was heading east for a good portion of the run and was treated to one of those purple and pink sunrises Joe mentioned last week. I also scared up a great blue heron along the routes. They are very large birds and quite the sight to see in flight.
The in office course I was attending in Indy got out early so I headed on up to West Lafayette to spend some time with Joe and his wife. I had hoped to get to see him when I realized my travels were taking me to Indiana. Joe was kind enough to offer up the spare room and a home cooked meal complements of his wife. Joe has chronicled the visit on his blog. The visit to his work was interesting. Visiting the campus of Purdue brought back great memories of my own college days at Kent State University. It was very nostalgic. I will remember for a long time the moment that Joe walked into the kitchen Sunday morning for our run and Gretchen realized we were dressed similarly. It was quite the coincidence and a great laugh.
The run along the pathways on a beautiful spring morning was amazing. The wasn't a cloud in the sky and only a light breeze was blowing. The trail system is a real gem. We just moved along at a comfortable pace. Joe opted to run the entire 8 miles without the walk breaks he has incorporated as part of his ITB recovery. He appeared to be no worse for wear. Joe has marked the mileage from his house. He even showed me his private speedwork track; a 500 meter circle around a man made pond nestled in behind the high school playing fields and a neighborhood. I felt privileged to be among the inner circle.
Just before I left home last week my throat was getting dry and scratchy. This has now become a full blown head cold. On Sunday I had a cough and now my eyes are watery, my nose is running and I begun sneezing. My voice sounds like Kirmit about 20 octaves lower - very deep and scratching. I really think that this morning if I had been home I would have stayed home from work, but since I had traveled this far to see these doctors and patients I kept up my schedule. I had hoped to run this week but I may just take the rest and hope to be somewhat recovered before Eugene on Sunday. I am looking forward to meeting all the PNW blogger/runners and to running my 10th state, but now with this cold having its grip on me I worry even more about my performance capabilities. No sense stressing about it, what ever happens, happens. At any rate Lisa and I will have an enjoyable mini-vacation.
Miles for the week: 30.3
M: 5 miles, 43:55 (8:47 pace)
T: 5 miles, 38:52 (7:46 pace)
W: 4 miles, 33:20(8:20 pace)
H: ~4 miles, 39:16
F: ~4 miles, 37:41
S: Rest
S: 8.3 miles, 1:17:35 (9:21 pace)
It is now Monday evening and I'm at a Hampton Inn in Fort Wayne, IN. This is the end of my 5th day on the road. I left home at 4:00 a.m. last Thursday and will get back home this Thursday in the early afternoon. I have gotten some good feedback on our new product and more importantly to this blog, I have maintained my running schedule.
I ran Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday as detailed below. All three different routes, once on the Cottontail Trail in Bonelli (I never saw a single rabbit by the way), once at the far north end of the San Gabriel River Bikeway and lastly on the equestrian trail in Via Verde.
I arrived in Indianapolis early Thursday evening by way of a plane flight to Chicago and a 3 hour rental car ride to Indy. I was upgraded in the car because of the big corporate connection so I'm tooling around the Midwest in a Volvo S40. I've never driven a Volvo before. I am very impressed with its handling and ride. I drove over to Eagle Creek Park for a 4 mile run. The park is criss crossed with roads and trails. The trails run along the large reservoir. I just ran for time and doubled back several times. There were many other runners out and about in the park.
Friday morning I got up early and ran another 4 miles through the business park and neighborhood adjacent to the hotel. I had mapped out a route the night before. But because of the rapid growth and development in town many of the streets had been rerouted and reading street signs in the dark turned out to be more difficult than I expected. I was confused by my first turn but continued on and basically ran for time again. I was heading east for a good portion of the run and was treated to one of those purple and pink sunrises Joe mentioned last week. I also scared up a great blue heron along the routes. They are very large birds and quite the sight to see in flight.
The in office course I was attending in Indy got out early so I headed on up to West Lafayette to spend some time with Joe and his wife. I had hoped to get to see him when I realized my travels were taking me to Indiana. Joe was kind enough to offer up the spare room and a home cooked meal complements of his wife. Joe has chronicled the visit on his blog. The visit to his work was interesting. Visiting the campus of Purdue brought back great memories of my own college days at Kent State University. It was very nostalgic. I will remember for a long time the moment that Joe walked into the kitchen Sunday morning for our run and Gretchen realized we were dressed similarly. It was quite the coincidence and a great laugh.
The run along the pathways on a beautiful spring morning was amazing. The wasn't a cloud in the sky and only a light breeze was blowing. The trail system is a real gem. We just moved along at a comfortable pace. Joe opted to run the entire 8 miles without the walk breaks he has incorporated as part of his ITB recovery. He appeared to be no worse for wear. Joe has marked the mileage from his house. He even showed me his private speedwork track; a 500 meter circle around a man made pond nestled in behind the high school playing fields and a neighborhood. I felt privileged to be among the inner circle.
Just before I left home last week my throat was getting dry and scratchy. This has now become a full blown head cold. On Sunday I had a cough and now my eyes are watery, my nose is running and I begun sneezing. My voice sounds like Kirmit about 20 octaves lower - very deep and scratching. I really think that this morning if I had been home I would have stayed home from work, but since I had traveled this far to see these doctors and patients I kept up my schedule. I had hoped to run this week but I may just take the rest and hope to be somewhat recovered before Eugene on Sunday. I am looking forward to meeting all the PNW blogger/runners and to running my 10th state, but now with this cold having its grip on me I worry even more about my performance capabilities. No sense stressing about it, what ever happens, happens. At any rate Lisa and I will have an enjoyable mini-vacation.
Miles for the week: 30.3
M: 5 miles, 43:55 (8:47 pace)
T: 5 miles, 38:52 (7:46 pace)
W: 4 miles, 33:20(8:20 pace)
H: ~4 miles, 39:16
F: ~4 miles, 37:41
S: Rest
S: 8.3 miles, 1:17:35 (9:21 pace)
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Dr. John and His Entourage
Within minutes of posting, I recevied the email from Dr. John with the pictures and captions from this weekends runs. Rather than editing that post I will post them here.Dr. John's caption for this photo read: "The Canyon Hills High School cross country team momentarily caught up with John. After John explained that he was a married man, with two children and two grand children, they lost interest in him." Funny guy that Dr. John.
I took this photo as well of my partners for the day. L-R, Dr. John, Kathleen, Renee and Mary. From high up on Northridge trail we could see the ocean and even Catalina Island, 26 miles off the coast. Unfornately it doesn't show up in the photo, but it was there, trust me.
Eugene Training - Week 15
Almost there and as usual I can't believe it is here already. Although I haven't run the race yet I've begun to contemplate what state to tackle next. The Cruisers are sending a delegation off to "The People's Marathon", Marine Corps Marathon. Since it isn't until October I feel like I could slip something in between then. As badly as I want to find that next one, I just won't have the time to begin looking until after Eugene or maybe even later depending on how things go at work. My department when fully staffed is four people, as of a week ago I am going solo. Hopefully that will change in the next month or so.
I stuck to my original thought of running in Chino Hills State Park and was looking forward to the company of the Cruisers. We met at Tagge's and ran into the park via the trails from the neighborhood passed the Redwood Grove and into the back end of CHSP. This adds about 2 miles each way onto the loop in CHSP. I was at happy to see that Jesse showed up, but then disappointed when I found out he did not intend on running up Northridge. Jesse would have been an evenly matched partner for the run.
We were joined by two women, Erin and Rozanne, who are semi-elites in our area. They win their age groups consistently. Erin called Northridge "The 4-Mile Hill". This is a very apt description for this trail and says a lot more about it than Northridge. I ended up falling in with Dr. John, and a trio of Kathleen, Renee and Mary. I would run with them for awhile and then move ahead and wait for them to catch up. The last time Kathleen and Renee had run Northridge with us they had taken a very overgrown shortcut down to Telegraph. They had no desire to repeat that, so I stayed with them in part to make sure they found Sycamore and for the company. I ran considerably slower than I would have on my own, but that probably isn't such a bad thing two weeks out.
After we all made it down Sycamore the three ladies were ahead of Dr. John and I by 1/4 of a mile. Dr. John had stopped to take documentary photos of the run. He had arthroscopic knee surgery in March so took the downhill very easy. Dr. John and I met up with 6 girls from Canyon High cross country. Dr. John had quite the time chatting with them. I took is camera and ran ahead to get a great shot of he and the girls. I hope he sends it along so I can post it.
We picked up the pace and caught the ladies. We were between 4 and 5 miles from finishing up our run. I knew that they couldn't get lost at this point so I picked up the pace. I finished nearly 15 minutes ahead of them. Because of this stop-start pattern on the uphill I messed up my watch (I figured I wasn't going to count the waiting time against myself) I ended up messing up the button pushes and have no real cumulative running time. I was on the trail for 2:50 but I know my pace wasn't the 12:08 the time suggests. In reality it probably really doesn't matter. What matters is that I had a really enjoyable run in a great location with some super nice people.
I awoke Sunday to rain damped streets with moisture still dripping from the eaves, yet the skies were nearly clear and the sun was shining brightly. I needn't even mention where I headed. I just couldn't help but think about how lucky I was to be able to run around in the dirt on a beautiful weekend. I could feel the effects of the "The 4-Mile Hill" from the day before. Although I felt pretty good, the 10:16 pace reflects the state of my body or just the fact that I was enjoying the run rather than tackling it.
The new flash this week is the conditions for tomorrow's Boston Marathon. Boston had record heat a few years back and now this. Cathe from the Cruiser's will be there. I know of several bloggers as well, including world famous bloggers Jeff and Dianna, along with Mike, GB, and Ryan. I came upon GB recently through Bob's site. I've been reading (but not commenting) on Ryan's site for a while but can't recall how I ever found him in the first place. Although the weather conditions are not likely what they had hoped for, I'm sure that running Boston will be worth all the work they put into getting there. Good luck to all of them. I look forward to reading each of their stories next week.
Miles for the week: 40
M: 5 miles, 40:00 (8:00 pace)
T: 5 miles, 38:31 (7:42 pace)
W: ~5 miles, 52:00
H: 6 miles, 56:46 (9:27 pace)
F: Rest
S: 14 miles
S: 5 miles, 51:19 (10:16 pace)
I stuck to my original thought of running in Chino Hills State Park and was looking forward to the company of the Cruisers. We met at Tagge's and ran into the park via the trails from the neighborhood passed the Redwood Grove and into the back end of CHSP. This adds about 2 miles each way onto the loop in CHSP. I was at happy to see that Jesse showed up, but then disappointed when I found out he did not intend on running up Northridge. Jesse would have been an evenly matched partner for the run.
We were joined by two women, Erin and Rozanne, who are semi-elites in our area. They win their age groups consistently. Erin called Northridge "The 4-Mile Hill". This is a very apt description for this trail and says a lot more about it than Northridge. I ended up falling in with Dr. John, and a trio of Kathleen, Renee and Mary. I would run with them for awhile and then move ahead and wait for them to catch up. The last time Kathleen and Renee had run Northridge with us they had taken a very overgrown shortcut down to Telegraph. They had no desire to repeat that, so I stayed with them in part to make sure they found Sycamore and for the company. I ran considerably slower than I would have on my own, but that probably isn't such a bad thing two weeks out.
After we all made it down Sycamore the three ladies were ahead of Dr. John and I by 1/4 of a mile. Dr. John had stopped to take documentary photos of the run. He had arthroscopic knee surgery in March so took the downhill very easy. Dr. John and I met up with 6 girls from Canyon High cross country. Dr. John had quite the time chatting with them. I took is camera and ran ahead to get a great shot of he and the girls. I hope he sends it along so I can post it.
We picked up the pace and caught the ladies. We were between 4 and 5 miles from finishing up our run. I knew that they couldn't get lost at this point so I picked up the pace. I finished nearly 15 minutes ahead of them. Because of this stop-start pattern on the uphill I messed up my watch (I figured I wasn't going to count the waiting time against myself) I ended up messing up the button pushes and have no real cumulative running time. I was on the trail for 2:50 but I know my pace wasn't the 12:08 the time suggests. In reality it probably really doesn't matter. What matters is that I had a really enjoyable run in a great location with some super nice people.
I awoke Sunday to rain damped streets with moisture still dripping from the eaves, yet the skies were nearly clear and the sun was shining brightly. I needn't even mention where I headed. I just couldn't help but think about how lucky I was to be able to run around in the dirt on a beautiful weekend. I could feel the effects of the "The 4-Mile Hill" from the day before. Although I felt pretty good, the 10:16 pace reflects the state of my body or just the fact that I was enjoying the run rather than tackling it.
The new flash this week is the conditions for tomorrow's Boston Marathon. Boston had record heat a few years back and now this. Cathe from the Cruiser's will be there. I know of several bloggers as well, including world famous bloggers Jeff and Dianna, along with Mike, GB, and Ryan. I came upon GB recently through Bob's site. I've been reading (but not commenting) on Ryan's site for a while but can't recall how I ever found him in the first place. Although the weather conditions are not likely what they had hoped for, I'm sure that running Boston will be worth all the work they put into getting there. Good luck to all of them. I look forward to reading each of their stories next week.
Miles for the week: 40
M: 5 miles, 40:00 (8:00 pace)
T: 5 miles, 38:31 (7:42 pace)
W: ~5 miles, 52:00
H: 6 miles, 56:46 (9:27 pace)
F: Rest
S: 14 miles
S: 5 miles, 51:19 (10:16 pace)
Thursday, April 12, 2007
On the Road Again
Here I am sitting at the Hampton Inn in Calgary, Canada for the third time since December, the second time in two weeks. I am beginning to learn my way around, at least around the northwestern side of town.
Before I got too far into this post, I wanted to reply to the comments on my last post.
Wes: Eugene will be a test for sure. If I am to qualify for Boston I need a 3:30 marathon. I'm very afraid that I won't make it and if I am going to make it it's gonna hurt. I'm going to give it my best shot but ...
Michelle: lets all keep our fingers crossed. I also want to clear up my time. When I'm stopped during training runs, so is my watch. The 3:23 is actual run time. Fortunately I won't be stopping to chat during the marathon and I can usually skip the facility stops during a race.
Jessica and Anne: thanks for the vote of confidence and I really liked that picture myself.
Joe: You crack me up. You're like a kid on Christmas Eve. I've had a hard time keeping up with the present; I hadn't given much thought to the next couple of weeks. Fire when ready!
Now for this weeks runs. I've said earlier that since the mileage totals and weekly runs were shortening up a bit I was going to try to increase the pace a little. Monday I ran the Bonnie Cove 5 at a pretty decent clip. I don't have mile markers along these routes in the neighborhood, so its just go at it as hard as possible and see what the watch says when I hit the finish line. Those 5 miles came in right at 40:00; 8 minute miles. My first thought was - how will I ever keep that up for 21.2 more?
Tuesday I stopped off at the dam on the way home. The dam is sporting some new signage these days. There is a new painted markers with a wavy line and the words San Gabriel River Bikeway. But of course these new marks don't coincide with the old mile markers. I decided to charge up the hill this time. I hit the mile mark in 8:08, about a minute faster than usual. I kept right on chugging away and thought man this is tough. I hit mile 2 in 7:08. No wonder it felt tough. I slowed things down a bit after that but still ended up with 38:30ish for 5 miles. Two pretty hard runs back to back.
My next two runs brought me to Calgary. It took me nearly the whole day to get here on Wednesday. I spent 2 extra hours in San Francisco waiting to get to Calgary. Everything was delayed by heavy fog. I made it to Calgary a little after 5:00 p.m., almost 12 hours after pulling out of my garage at home. I headed straight over to Nose Hill Park. I had worn my running shorts under my jeans. All I had to do was make a quick change of shirt and shoes and off I went. I ran comfortably in shorts and a long sleeve technical shirt with temps in the low 40's. Nose Hill is definitely a hill. From up top you can get a great view of the city skyline to the south and the endless plains to the north. There aren't many landmarks to use as guides. I made it to the opposite side of the park and back but not via the same route I took out. The park isn't really big enough to get lost in but you can get disoriented. I ran strictly by time, putting in 52 minutes which I guess is somewhere a little more than 5 miles. I had to stop or at least hesitate frequently to determine which criss-crossing path I wanted to take and then to try to trace my steps. I had brought by regular street shoes, but the trail shoes would have been a good choice this time due to the sloppiness of the trails in places.
I got up this morning and headed back over the the Bow River Bikeway for an easy 10k in 56:46. I still have about an hour before I have to be at the orthodontists office. I'm not sure exactly what I will do the rest of the afternoon and evening since my flight doesn't leave till 7:00. My other choice was 3:00 but I was afraid that would rush my visit at the docs office.
I've got 15 scheduled for Saturday and the Cruisers are planning on running into Chino Hills State Park which is exactly what I was already thinking. I look forward to that one. Next week I leave again for a whole week between Indianapolis and Chicago. That's were Joe comes in. I'm looking forward to the weekend in West Lafayette, IN which just so happens to fall between my two stops. We've made plans to share our last long run, 8 miles, before his back to back 1/2 marathons and Eugene. Joe has some other plans as well that include a home cooked meal (always a welcome treat and respite from a week's worth of restaurant food) and a personal guided tour of the sights in his neck of the woods; it should be a lot of fun.
Before I got too far into this post, I wanted to reply to the comments on my last post.
Wes: Eugene will be a test for sure. If I am to qualify for Boston I need a 3:30 marathon. I'm very afraid that I won't make it and if I am going to make it it's gonna hurt. I'm going to give it my best shot but ...
Michelle: lets all keep our fingers crossed. I also want to clear up my time. When I'm stopped during training runs, so is my watch. The 3:23 is actual run time. Fortunately I won't be stopping to chat during the marathon and I can usually skip the facility stops during a race.
Jessica and Anne: thanks for the vote of confidence and I really liked that picture myself.
Joe: You crack me up. You're like a kid on Christmas Eve. I've had a hard time keeping up with the present; I hadn't given much thought to the next couple of weeks. Fire when ready!
Now for this weeks runs. I've said earlier that since the mileage totals and weekly runs were shortening up a bit I was going to try to increase the pace a little. Monday I ran the Bonnie Cove 5 at a pretty decent clip. I don't have mile markers along these routes in the neighborhood, so its just go at it as hard as possible and see what the watch says when I hit the finish line. Those 5 miles came in right at 40:00; 8 minute miles. My first thought was - how will I ever keep that up for 21.2 more?
Tuesday I stopped off at the dam on the way home. The dam is sporting some new signage these days. There is a new painted markers with a wavy line and the words San Gabriel River Bikeway. But of course these new marks don't coincide with the old mile markers. I decided to charge up the hill this time. I hit the mile mark in 8:08, about a minute faster than usual. I kept right on chugging away and thought man this is tough. I hit mile 2 in 7:08. No wonder it felt tough. I slowed things down a bit after that but still ended up with 38:30ish for 5 miles. Two pretty hard runs back to back.
My next two runs brought me to Calgary. It took me nearly the whole day to get here on Wednesday. I spent 2 extra hours in San Francisco waiting to get to Calgary. Everything was delayed by heavy fog. I made it to Calgary a little after 5:00 p.m., almost 12 hours after pulling out of my garage at home. I headed straight over to Nose Hill Park. I had worn my running shorts under my jeans. All I had to do was make a quick change of shirt and shoes and off I went. I ran comfortably in shorts and a long sleeve technical shirt with temps in the low 40's. Nose Hill is definitely a hill. From up top you can get a great view of the city skyline to the south and the endless plains to the north. There aren't many landmarks to use as guides. I made it to the opposite side of the park and back but not via the same route I took out. The park isn't really big enough to get lost in but you can get disoriented. I ran strictly by time, putting in 52 minutes which I guess is somewhere a little more than 5 miles. I had to stop or at least hesitate frequently to determine which criss-crossing path I wanted to take and then to try to trace my steps. I had brought by regular street shoes, but the trail shoes would have been a good choice this time due to the sloppiness of the trails in places.
I got up this morning and headed back over the the Bow River Bikeway for an easy 10k in 56:46. I still have about an hour before I have to be at the orthodontists office. I'm not sure exactly what I will do the rest of the afternoon and evening since my flight doesn't leave till 7:00. My other choice was 3:00 but I was afraid that would rush my visit at the docs office.
I've got 15 scheduled for Saturday and the Cruisers are planning on running into Chino Hills State Park which is exactly what I was already thinking. I look forward to that one. Next week I leave again for a whole week between Indianapolis and Chicago. That's were Joe comes in. I'm looking forward to the weekend in West Lafayette, IN which just so happens to fall between my two stops. We've made plans to share our last long run, 8 miles, before his back to back 1/2 marathons and Eugene. Joe has some other plans as well that include a home cooked meal (always a welcome treat and respite from a week's worth of restaurant food) and a personal guided tour of the sights in his neck of the woods; it should be a lot of fun.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Eugene Training - Week 14
Already Tuesday, unbelievable.
I guess the title should really be Week 14.3 or something. Last week was a scheduled 5 day week so I had Monday and Friday off just like in the old days before I decided to try this training plan for the second time. I've made it this far but have yet to decide what I will do once I get through Eugene.
My wife had Friday off from work. I took a half day vacation and we had a nice lunch together.
I ended up heading down to Yorba Linda for the last 22 miler. I arrived a little early and by 7:00 no one else had showed up. It was a grey, misty morning with temps in the middle 50's. I headed out. The day turned into an old school day. Just after 4 miles I ran into Denis and John coming back the opposite way. They were 9 miles into their last 22 as well. At mile 7 I happened upon Mary and Cathe. They had gotten a late start. We stopped and talked for a few minutes. They were on their way and I hit the facilities, for the second time (It was that kind of run). A couple of miles later I caught up the Mary and Cathe. I stayed with them for the next three miles. I even took walk breaks with them. I stressed out a little when one of them stretched to nearly 2 minutes but I hung in there with them until they turned back at my mile 12.
It was there that we ran into Julie and Gary and stopped to take another chat break. I still had 10 miles to go. Around mile 14 I ran into John again and then at mile16 I saw Denis again. John had cut his 22 miler a little short. I made it back to where I started in 3:23:29. I was tired but felt like I could finish 4 more easily. The problem is I can't finish 4.2 miles in 7 minutes, oops!
I know better than to race the long runs, but I still can't help but wonder. I went back at looked up my long runs for the last three road runs. I don't seemed to have gotten any faster this time around. I certainly have put in more miles but it seems to me to be at the same pace as always.
I don't know what it all means, if anything, but I thought I would learn something.
I guess the title should really be Week 14.3 or something. Last week was a scheduled 5 day week so I had Monday and Friday off just like in the old days before I decided to try this training plan for the second time. I've made it this far but have yet to decide what I will do once I get through Eugene.
My wife had Friday off from work. I took a half day vacation and we had a nice lunch together.
I ended up heading down to Yorba Linda for the last 22 miler. I arrived a little early and by 7:00 no one else had showed up. It was a grey, misty morning with temps in the middle 50's. I headed out. The day turned into an old school day. Just after 4 miles I ran into Denis and John coming back the opposite way. They were 9 miles into their last 22 as well. At mile 7 I happened upon Mary and Cathe. They had gotten a late start. We stopped and talked for a few minutes. They were on their way and I hit the facilities, for the second time (It was that kind of run). A couple of miles later I caught up the Mary and Cathe. I stayed with them for the next three miles. I even took walk breaks with them. I stressed out a little when one of them stretched to nearly 2 minutes but I hung in there with them until they turned back at my mile 12.
It was there that we ran into Julie and Gary and stopped to take another chat break. I still had 10 miles to go. Around mile 14 I ran into John again and then at mile16 I saw Denis again. John had cut his 22 miler a little short. I made it back to where I started in 3:23:29. I was tired but felt like I could finish 4 more easily. The problem is I can't finish 4.2 miles in 7 minutes, oops!
I know better than to race the long runs, but I still can't help but wonder. I went back at looked up my long runs for the last three road runs. I don't seemed to have gotten any faster this time around. I certainly have put in more miles but it seems to me to be at the same pace as always.
I don't know what it all means, if anything, but I thought I would learn something.The sun never made an appearance the rest of the day and everyone in my family took a nap; something that almost never happens.
4 miles on the west side of Bonelli on Sunday morning, again in the gray mist topped of the week. There was no sunrise at the Sunrise Easter services around here. We took Grandma and Aunt Leslie with us for a trek down to San Diego and enjoyed dinner with Tyler at Prego.
Miles for the week: 42
M: Rest
T: 5 miles, 40:43 (8:09 pace)
W: 6 miles, 47:16 (7:53 pace)
H: 5 miles, 44:19 (8:52 pace)
F: Rest
S: 22 miles, 3:23 (9:15 pace)
S: ~4 miles, 42:17 (10:34 pace)
The cross is at the top of Garcia Trail where I ran a few weeks ago on Glendora Ridge Motorway.
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
Trip Tik
This week with the mileage starting to decline, I decided to try and ramp up the pace a little.
I enjoyed Monday off by watching Dancing with the Stars. That darn show has me hooked. I spent the whole night moving back and forth between the computer (bills and blogging) and the TV. I would really love to see Laila make it all the way through. But it is going to be a tough battle between her, Joey, Ian and maybe even Apollo. I never thought I would get hooked on a show like this. I pretty much dismissed it the first year, caught the final few weeks year two and haven't missed much of the action since then. I was really rooting for Emmit last year besides I've secretly got a thing for Cheryl. Cheryl and her star partner have won twice, it would be sweet if she and Ian could go for #3.
At the dam on Tuesday it seemed really odd to be turning around at the 2.5 mile mark. I've been running 6 or 8 there since early February. I pushed a little and ended up with an 8:09 pace over all.
Wednesday I hadn't quite committed to a route yet on the way home. I was thinking about the errands I had to run the next day. It turns out our car insurance was due on Thursday. I'm not super excited most days to pay the bills and there are some bills I just flat out hate to pay. Car insurance is one of those. Some of the others are the newspaper (I don't read it) and the cell phone bill (most of the minutes go to the kids). So as a little protest I pay those bills at the last possible minute. I usually drop of the insurance check at the AAA office on the way to work. This is just one more thing in an already hectic morning. Getting Bryan moving is enough of a battle every morning. So I had this brilliant idea of running the insurance check over tonight.
I quickly pulled up my favorite route mapping tool and determined that the AAA office was 2.5 miles from home. This office is just one block off one of the streets I run often. To finish up the loop, my Bonnie Cove 5 route became the AAA 6. Now I have one less thing to do in the morning. Plus this saves me about a 2 mile car trip. That has to be worth the $0.26 it saved me with gas at $3.25 a gallon and don't forget the $0.39 stamp I saved too.
In the spirit of ramping up the pace, after the 2.5 miles I decided to kick things up a notch and ran at least another 2 miles at a pace nearing 5K. I throttled it back down after that but caught myself ramping back up as I got closer and closer to home. I finished up with a 7:53 pace overall so I must have been cooking along pretty good in the middle there because I know I started off relatively easily.
I plan to take tomorrow back down in the 8:30 range in preparation for the last big one on Saturday. I was planning on going down to Yorba Linda to meet up with the Cruiser's (I haven't seen them since the Brea 8K) but I found out today some of them are racing a 5K that day. I may just head back down to HB, where I've done the last 3 long runs. Either way it will be satisfying to have that one on the books.
I enjoyed Monday off by watching Dancing with the Stars. That darn show has me hooked. I spent the whole night moving back and forth between the computer (bills and blogging) and the TV. I would really love to see Laila make it all the way through. But it is going to be a tough battle between her, Joey, Ian and maybe even Apollo. I never thought I would get hooked on a show like this. I pretty much dismissed it the first year, caught the final few weeks year two and haven't missed much of the action since then. I was really rooting for Emmit last year besides I've secretly got a thing for Cheryl. Cheryl and her star partner have won twice, it would be sweet if she and Ian could go for #3.
At the dam on Tuesday it seemed really odd to be turning around at the 2.5 mile mark. I've been running 6 or 8 there since early February. I pushed a little and ended up with an 8:09 pace over all.
Wednesday I hadn't quite committed to a route yet on the way home. I was thinking about the errands I had to run the next day. It turns out our car insurance was due on Thursday. I'm not super excited most days to pay the bills and there are some bills I just flat out hate to pay. Car insurance is one of those. Some of the others are the newspaper (I don't read it) and the cell phone bill (most of the minutes go to the kids). So as a little protest I pay those bills at the last possible minute. I usually drop of the insurance check at the AAA office on the way to work. This is just one more thing in an already hectic morning. Getting Bryan moving is enough of a battle every morning. So I had this brilliant idea of running the insurance check over tonight.
I quickly pulled up my favorite route mapping tool and determined that the AAA office was 2.5 miles from home. This office is just one block off one of the streets I run often. To finish up the loop, my Bonnie Cove 5 route became the AAA 6. Now I have one less thing to do in the morning. Plus this saves me about a 2 mile car trip. That has to be worth the $0.26 it saved me with gas at $3.25 a gallon and don't forget the $0.39 stamp I saved too.
In the spirit of ramping up the pace, after the 2.5 miles I decided to kick things up a notch and ran at least another 2 miles at a pace nearing 5K. I throttled it back down after that but caught myself ramping back up as I got closer and closer to home. I finished up with a 7:53 pace overall so I must have been cooking along pretty good in the middle there because I know I started off relatively easily.
I plan to take tomorrow back down in the 8:30 range in preparation for the last big one on Saturday. I was planning on going down to Yorba Linda to meet up with the Cruiser's (I haven't seen them since the Brea 8K) but I found out today some of them are racing a 5K that day. I may just head back down to HB, where I've done the last 3 long runs. Either way it will be satisfying to have that one on the books.
Monday, April 02, 2007
Eugene Training - Week 13
I know it is already Monday but I can't mess up the trend now when I'm this close to the finish line. I've already covered the highlights of last week. I was determined to get in my six days of running but by Wednesday that clearly wasn't going to happen. So I did the next best thing, I ran 6 times instead.
Thursday, back home and back at work, I headed over to the dam with the intent of doing speedwork. I planned on warming up for 1.5 miles and then doing 3 minutes speed followed by 3 minutes recovery for the next 2.5 miles with a mile of cool down. Well I hit the 1.5 mile mark and the effort felt nearly as difficult as in Calgary two days prior. I took off like a bolt and made it to within sight of the next half mile mark by the time the watch finally beeped 3 minutes. It was one of the longest 3 minutes ever. After the 3 minute recovery jog, I took off again and made it for about 1 minute before I said to heck with this. At the turn around point I decided that if I wasn't going to get any speedwork in I would at least try for a marathon pace run. I ramped up the pace and got the last 3 miles done in 7:51, 7:41 and 7:56.
Friday I headed over to Via Verde for an abbreviated run; 4 miles at an easy pace in anticipation of Saturday's race.
Sunday afternoon I headed over to Bonelli at 5:00 in the afternoon after having hung around the house all day in my running clothes from Tyler's 5K that morning. So although I only ran 5 days, I put in 6 runs.
Miles for the week: 40
M: Rest
T: 8.8 miles, 1:23 (9:31 pace)
W: Travel day, 0 miles
H: 6 miles, 48:56 (8:09 pace) with 3 miles at MP
F: 4 miles, 38:07 (9:31 pace)
S: 13.1 miles, 1:49:31 (8:22 pace)
S: 3.1 miles, 34:00 (10.58 pace) with Tyler
5 miles, 50:28 (10:06 pace)
On Sunday afternoon I tallied up my miles for the month of March and was shocked to find 197.7 miles. If I had realized how close I was to 200 I would have run a little more during the week. This is 15 miles more than my last highest month in August 2006. I recently read about the challenge of running 2007 miles in 2007. This requires an average monthly mileage of 167.25. I wasn't far off track and this months 197.7 gives me a cushion to play with. I haven't completely committed to the idea of 2007 miles but, so far so good.
This week the miles start to taper down although the last 22 miler is scheduled for Saturday. During the week there are no more 8 milers and the 6 milers become 5. Let me tell you I am looking forward to the rest and recovery leading up to Eugene.
Thursday, back home and back at work, I headed over to the dam with the intent of doing speedwork. I planned on warming up for 1.5 miles and then doing 3 minutes speed followed by 3 minutes recovery for the next 2.5 miles with a mile of cool down. Well I hit the 1.5 mile mark and the effort felt nearly as difficult as in Calgary two days prior. I took off like a bolt and made it to within sight of the next half mile mark by the time the watch finally beeped 3 minutes. It was one of the longest 3 minutes ever. After the 3 minute recovery jog, I took off again and made it for about 1 minute before I said to heck with this. At the turn around point I decided that if I wasn't going to get any speedwork in I would at least try for a marathon pace run. I ramped up the pace and got the last 3 miles done in 7:51, 7:41 and 7:56.
Friday I headed over to Via Verde for an abbreviated run; 4 miles at an easy pace in anticipation of Saturday's race.
Sunday afternoon I headed over to Bonelli at 5:00 in the afternoon after having hung around the house all day in my running clothes from Tyler's 5K that morning. So although I only ran 5 days, I put in 6 runs.
Miles for the week: 40
M: Rest
T: 8.8 miles, 1:23 (9:31 pace)
W: Travel day, 0 miles
H: 6 miles, 48:56 (8:09 pace) with 3 miles at MP
F: 4 miles, 38:07 (9:31 pace)
S: 13.1 miles, 1:49:31 (8:22 pace)
S: 3.1 miles, 34:00 (10.58 pace) with Tyler
5 miles, 50:28 (10:06 pace)
On Sunday afternoon I tallied up my miles for the month of March and was shocked to find 197.7 miles. If I had realized how close I was to 200 I would have run a little more during the week. This is 15 miles more than my last highest month in August 2006. I recently read about the challenge of running 2007 miles in 2007. This requires an average monthly mileage of 167.25. I wasn't far off track and this months 197.7 gives me a cushion to play with. I haven't completely committed to the idea of 2007 miles but, so far so good.
This week the miles start to taper down although the last 22 miler is scheduled for Saturday. During the week there are no more 8 milers and the 6 milers become 5. Let me tell you I am looking forward to the rest and recovery leading up to Eugene.
Sunday, April 01, 2007
A Racing Weekend
I ran two races this weekend.
The first was the Chesebro Half Marathon, part of the Great Race of Agoura which includes a 5K, 10K, the double -15K, and a kids 1 miler on Saturday March 31. I did this race last year and really enjoyed it so I signed up for another go at it. The half is really two races in one, about 3 miles at both ends on pavements with about 6 miles in the middle on trails.
This year the race seemed to be easier, the trail wider, the hills smaller and the whole thing went by a lot faster than last. One thing I missed, kind of, was the mud at the beginning of the trail. I wore my road shoes, so save my trail shoes from the 6 miles of road.
My primary goal for this race was to better last year's time of 2:01. My absolute rock my world goal was 1:39 predicted by the McMillan calculator. I knew that with the trail (hill) portion of the race this would be difficult.
Last year I started this race off slowly. This year I decided to kick it in early and pass as many people as I could before reaching the trail section. About 1/2 mile into the race I ran into Denis from the Cruisers. He and his training partner run the river trail in Yorba Linda but get started about an hour before the rest of us. I ran and chatted with him for about a mile until he took his first walk break. He uses the Galloway method at 6:1, finishing the LA marathon in 4:37. I had also decided to travel lighter this year. I braved the cool temps at the start and did not carry an extra sweatshirt like last year, nor did I carry my fuel belt, but relied on two water stops on trail. I did take a gel at mile 8. I was at 24:33 at the 3 mile mark, all on roads.
On the trail I kept trucking along and picked off one person at a time. I hit mile 5 in 16:26 meaning I was keeping up an 8:13 pace on the trail. For some reason at one minor down hill section, just before the biggest up hill about 3 of the people I had just passed surged ahead. I caught a couple of them again on the uphill. The mile 6 marker was obviously off since I reached it in about 5:30 after hitting mile 5. I kept an eye on the markers the rest of the trail but didn't record a time until I hit the road again. I hit mile 11 in 52:49/6 miles or 8:48 pace for the big uphill and of course the nice long downhill afterward.
Unlike last year when I ran out of gas when we hit the pavement, this year I still felt good. I began to set my sights on the runners ahead of me and picked off at least four before mile 12. We had been on the road for about a mile and a half and had a lane to ourselves. Around mile 12 we were joined by a mass of humanity. The 10K race started an hour and half after the half marathon. Chugging along with other like minded half marathoners was a good thing. Running into a wall of back of the pack 10K'ers was not. The runners were in a totally different place race wise. Their pace was slower and they ran or walked in groups which made keeping any kind of momentum nearly impossible. It was quite disturbing. We shared the road for nearly a mile until the last 100 yards or so to the finish line where we parted ways. Even with this distraction I was able to crank out 7:27 pace for the last 2.1 miles, thanks to a downhill finish once we left the trail.
My overall time was 1:49:31, a 12 minute improvement over last year and about half way to my outlandish goal. The 1:49 is nearly as good as my half marathon PR (1:45:39) set at Fontana on a nearly completely downhill road course. My time put me at 163/1001 (16th percentile) overall and 11/61 (18 percentile) for M4549. I'm pretty happy with that. 1:49 predicts a 3:40 marathon, so who knows...
I was nearly ready to head out when Denis crossed the finish line in 2:10:36. I hung out and talked for awhile. I found out he and his running partner are heading up to Eugene as well. His running partners daughter lives near Eugene.
------------------------------------------------------
The second race was the Victim's Rights 5K in San Pedro on Sunday, April 1. Some of you may remember that 9 to 10 weeks ago my oldest son started the coolrunning.com Couch to 5K program. This is something he started all on his own without any prodding from me. He even started a blog which he ended up not keeping up. But he did the important part, he finished all of the C25K workouts. A few weeks ago he asked me to find him a race. I originally started looking in the San Diego area, then he realized he would be home on spring break the week he was ready to race. I had considered the Spirit Run, but running around the mall lacked appeal to me. I found this 5K which ran along Paseo Del Mar at the edge of the Pacific Ocean. Tyler trusted my judgement. He even agreed to allow me to come with him and to run the race. After we checked in he asked me "So, you're just going to take off right?". "No way, I'm planning on running right along side you" I said. He was OK with that.
The race got under way and off we went. Tyler crossed the first mile marker in 9:43. This course wasn't really flat. Tyler complained about the "hills". I tried to convince him they were just little inclines. They really were pretty tame, but I did remember how I felt the first time I came across anything that even remotely resembled a hill.
During the second mile and the longest continuous climb Tyler took a walk break. I wasn't timing them because he hadn't asked me too. We started running again when he was ready. He asked for another walk break during this mile and finished mile 2 in 11:26, mostly due to the walk breaks.
During mile 3 he took a couple of more walks and hit that mark in 11:56. At that point I told him he couldn't walk anymore. It was against the rules to walk the last 0.1 mile of a 5K.
He kicked it in gear and finished the last 0.1 in 0:55, even passing 3 people on the way to the finish line. I was two steps behind him. My watch read 33:59:26. The official times listed now are 34:00 for Tyler and 34:05 for me. I know I wasn't 5 seconds behind him, but this wasn't my race. I was thrilled just to share this one with him. We even got medals, something I have never gotten before at a 5K. He ended up 11th in his age group and me 10th in mine and 209 and 210 out of 570. That put's him in the top 40%. The overall pace was 10:58. Now I've shared a 5K with both of my boys and although each one as among my slowest times, they will be the most memorable races I've run.
I asked Tyler if this was something that he wanted to continue and he said yes. He's looking for a program that is the next step beyond the C25K program. I will have to do some digging. Does anybody have any ideas?
The first was the Chesebro Half Marathon, part of the Great Race of Agoura which includes a 5K, 10K, the double -15K, and a kids 1 miler on Saturday March 31. I did this race last year and really enjoyed it so I signed up for another go at it. The half is really two races in one, about 3 miles at both ends on pavements with about 6 miles in the middle on trails.
This year the race seemed to be easier, the trail wider, the hills smaller and the whole thing went by a lot faster than last. One thing I missed, kind of, was the mud at the beginning of the trail. I wore my road shoes, so save my trail shoes from the 6 miles of road.
My primary goal for this race was to better last year's time of 2:01. My absolute rock my world goal was 1:39 predicted by the McMillan calculator. I knew that with the trail (hill) portion of the race this would be difficult.
Last year I started this race off slowly. This year I decided to kick it in early and pass as many people as I could before reaching the trail section. About 1/2 mile into the race I ran into Denis from the Cruisers. He and his training partner run the river trail in Yorba Linda but get started about an hour before the rest of us. I ran and chatted with him for about a mile until he took his first walk break. He uses the Galloway method at 6:1, finishing the LA marathon in 4:37. I had also decided to travel lighter this year. I braved the cool temps at the start and did not carry an extra sweatshirt like last year, nor did I carry my fuel belt, but relied on two water stops on trail. I did take a gel at mile 8. I was at 24:33 at the 3 mile mark, all on roads.
On the trail I kept trucking along and picked off one person at a time. I hit mile 5 in 16:26 meaning I was keeping up an 8:13 pace on the trail. For some reason at one minor down hill section, just before the biggest up hill about 3 of the people I had just passed surged ahead. I caught a couple of them again on the uphill. The mile 6 marker was obviously off since I reached it in about 5:30 after hitting mile 5. I kept an eye on the markers the rest of the trail but didn't record a time until I hit the road again. I hit mile 11 in 52:49/6 miles or 8:48 pace for the big uphill and of course the nice long downhill afterward.
Unlike last year when I ran out of gas when we hit the pavement, this year I still felt good. I began to set my sights on the runners ahead of me and picked off at least four before mile 12. We had been on the road for about a mile and a half and had a lane to ourselves. Around mile 12 we were joined by a mass of humanity. The 10K race started an hour and half after the half marathon. Chugging along with other like minded half marathoners was a good thing. Running into a wall of back of the pack 10K'ers was not. The runners were in a totally different place race wise. Their pace was slower and they ran or walked in groups which made keeping any kind of momentum nearly impossible. It was quite disturbing. We shared the road for nearly a mile until the last 100 yards or so to the finish line where we parted ways. Even with this distraction I was able to crank out 7:27 pace for the last 2.1 miles, thanks to a downhill finish once we left the trail.
My overall time was 1:49:31, a 12 minute improvement over last year and about half way to my outlandish goal. The 1:49 is nearly as good as my half marathon PR (1:45:39) set at Fontana on a nearly completely downhill road course. My time put me at 163/1001 (16th percentile) overall and 11/61 (18 percentile) for M4549. I'm pretty happy with that. 1:49 predicts a 3:40 marathon, so who knows...
I was nearly ready to head out when Denis crossed the finish line in 2:10:36. I hung out and talked for awhile. I found out he and his running partner are heading up to Eugene as well. His running partners daughter lives near Eugene.
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The second race was the Victim's Rights 5K in San Pedro on Sunday, April 1. Some of you may remember that 9 to 10 weeks ago my oldest son started the coolrunning.com Couch to 5K program. This is something he started all on his own without any prodding from me. He even started a blog which he ended up not keeping up. But he did the important part, he finished all of the C25K workouts. A few weeks ago he asked me to find him a race. I originally started looking in the San Diego area, then he realized he would be home on spring break the week he was ready to race. I had considered the Spirit Run, but running around the mall lacked appeal to me. I found this 5K which ran along Paseo Del Mar at the edge of the Pacific Ocean. Tyler trusted my judgement. He even agreed to allow me to come with him and to run the race. After we checked in he asked me "So, you're just going to take off right?". "No way, I'm planning on running right along side you" I said. He was OK with that.
The race got under way and off we went. Tyler crossed the first mile marker in 9:43. This course wasn't really flat. Tyler complained about the "hills". I tried to convince him they were just little inclines. They really were pretty tame, but I did remember how I felt the first time I came across anything that even remotely resembled a hill.
During the second mile and the longest continuous climb Tyler took a walk break. I wasn't timing them because he hadn't asked me too. We started running again when he was ready. He asked for another walk break during this mile and finished mile 2 in 11:26, mostly due to the walk breaks.
During mile 3 he took a couple of more walks and hit that mark in 11:56. At that point I told him he couldn't walk anymore. It was against the rules to walk the last 0.1 mile of a 5K.
He kicked it in gear and finished the last 0.1 in 0:55, even passing 3 people on the way to the finish line. I was two steps behind him. My watch read 33:59:26. The official times listed now are 34:00 for Tyler and 34:05 for me. I know I wasn't 5 seconds behind him, but this wasn't my race. I was thrilled just to share this one with him. We even got medals, something I have never gotten before at a 5K. He ended up 11th in his age group and me 10th in mine and 209 and 210 out of 570. That put's him in the top 40%. The overall pace was 10:58. Now I've shared a 5K with both of my boys and although each one as among my slowest times, they will be the most memorable races I've run.
I asked Tyler if this was something that he wanted to continue and he said yes. He's looking for a program that is the next step beyond the C25K program. I will have to do some digging. Does anybody have any ideas?
The Difference A Day Makes
This post was started last Wednesday while I waited to change planes in Seattle. It has been held captive by my work laptop since then. Since I have a whole week, including month end and race recaps, to catch up on I've decided to break this into several shorter posts.
I had a trip scheduled to Calgary this week and I knew it would take some creativity on my part to get 6 runs in this week. It’s not so much that I lacked creativity as much as I lacked the follow through on that creativity.
The plan called for Monday as a rest day as it usually does. This week I didn’t need to push it to Friday, but knowing that I would be in transit the better part of Wednesday meant that I should have used Monday to its advantage. That never happened.
I had been checking the weather for Calgary on a daily basis for the last week. The last prediction I saw was for temps in the mid to high 30’s with light rain predicted. My flight from Ontario, CA to Seattle was uneventful. Seattle weather was like everyone always says it is, cloudy and gloomy. I didn’t really mind. The greater concern was the weather in Calgary. Things had changed since I last checked. In Seattle we were told that visibility in Calgary was extremely limited and there was snow falling, possibly heavy snow. The flight left Seattle with the hope that the weather would clear during the flight but with the understanding that if things didn’t improve the pilots would return us to Seattle. The pilot warned that we might do an approach and head right back up if conditions weren’t good and not to be alarmed. During the descent in Calgary could see nothing but white clouds, then the next thing I knew we were on the ground with no further discussion of conditions from the cockpit.
I had deliberately planned the trip to arrive in the early afternoon, so that I could take advantage of DST and the naturally longer days of the north. It was snowing when I landed but because it wasn’t extremely cold the roads were clear. Although leaving home at 4:00 a.m. was not ideal, I had the afternoon to myself. (Does this count as creative or just taking advantage?) I had a couple of options in mind for a run. One was to head up to Nose Hill Park, the other was the Bow River Pathway. I had packed my new Cascadias in anticipation of muddy or slushy conditions.
I ended up going with the Bow River Pathway which turns out is an asphalt multi-use trail along the Bow River. The trial shoes weren’t really necessary but they would have to suffice. This section of the pathway is at river level at points and then meanders up hill to go along a bluff well above the river and then descends back down again. The pathway goes through some wooded areas and also some open space areas and parks. I ran northwest from Home Rd to Stoney Trail and crossed the river along the pedestrian bridge that is suspended under the impressive bridge. Bowness Park is on the south side of the river but not knowing exactly how to get back to my car that way I did a u-turn and retraced my steps. Although the pathway was mostly clear, the ground all around was covered with about 2 inches of really wet snow. Besides a couple of Canadian Geese (imagine that), I saw a couple birds with long tails and the most amazing contrasting color scheme of black and white. Usually things in nature that are white are kind of yellowish, not real crisp. It took some internet searching when I got back to the room to determine they were black-billed magpies. I always thought of magpies like this:
picture from: http://www.ohiobirds.org/birdingnews/images/magpies%20on%20the%20lam.jpg
Not this:
picture from: http://weaselhead.org/profile/?s=218 Although I enjoyed a run in a new location and the cool overcast conditions, I could tell that it would be spectacular on a sunny day. I did have a hard time getting up any major momentum. I thought during the run, maybe it was due to the fact that I had gotten up 2 hours early or possibly I was a little dehydrated from flying. I also considered that the altitude may be affecting me. Calgary is at 3500 feet or so above sea level, while most of my runs are maybe 500 or less. I don’t really know, but the 8.8 miles (14.2 km) took me 1:23:49 for 9:31 pace.
Wednesday, I visited a local orthodontist. I wrapped my visit around 2:00 and headed back towards the airport. It was a beautiful sunny day. I went by Nose Hill Park and contemplated squeezing in a run. I accidentally missed the turn off so I just headed for the airport. It turns out customs didn’t open till 4:00 and my flight left at nearly 6:00. I would have had plenty of time to get in a run. My biggest obstacle was where exactly I would change from dress clothes to running clothes and how I would get at least partially cleaned up before sharing close quarters with people on an airplane. Maybe I do lack creativity after all. Instead I wrote my trip report. I was technically “on the clock”. I will be back to Calgary soon, maybe I will get to explore Nose Hill Park then.
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